People familiar with the deal said the buyer is led by David Richards, an auto racing entrepreneur and the founder of the Prodrive Ltd. The latter also runs the Aston Martin racing program. The sources added that Richards will be supported by the Kuwait Investment Dar & 39; s Co.
Ford sold the Aston Martin brand to raise funds to defray the costs restructuring. But he maintains a small participation in the brand. When asked about the sale, a Ford spokesperson declined comment on the latest automotive Sunday.
The bought a majority stake in Aston Martin in 1987. The rest of the game is purchased in 1994. Last year, Ford posted the largest annual loss in its 103 years of history in the amount of $ 12.7 billion. According to him, automobile factories closed and cuts tens of thousands of jobs as part of restructuring plan.
But strategies are considered hence the auto want to consider other available options and one of them is selling the Aston Martin brand. " It will give them a little more capital needed to finance its restructuring, " auto analyst of BNP Paribas Brad Rubin said last Sunday of the Aston Martin " sale, but he really is not much money. "
The Aston Martin is equal - Famous as agent 007, aka James Bond, has characterized and used vehicles of the brand in some of his films. The brand is part of Ford & 39; s Premier Automotive Group, which also includes Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo Cars. These marks are famous for luxury, performance and safety. Jaguar, to boost its design philosophy introduced new line to dry the distance boxy image of the automobile. Land Rover, on the other hand, is strengthening its performance off-road. Volvo has achieved an excellent standard of safety in cars. Even a simple auto part as Volvo distributor cap is designed with security in the topmost offering mind.
Among the Premier Automotive Group units, the biggest contributor of losses is Jaguar with $ 327 million recorded sales decline in 2006. The automobile would normally not disclose any financial information relating to individual units of the Premier Automotive Group, however, the company said Aston Martin is very profitable.
Aston Martin, with headquarters in Gaydon, England, produces annually about 5000 vehicles. Each car costs more than $ 100,000. Considering the standards set by Ford, Aston Martin is not sharing its engineering and auto parts with the rest of the brands Ford. Even when the auto efforts to make their global operations, the company is to maintain the philosophy and standards of Aston Martin.
According presentation of an executive, analysts said that the industry would prefer that Ford sell the brand Jaguar, which lost more than US $ 700 million last year. The report also predicted that the brand would lose $ 550 million this year and $ 300 million in 2008. edmond gotti
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