Aston Martin Racing — a partnership between Prodrive and Aston Martin — has developed what they call the "world's most exclusive rally car." Called the Aston Martin Rally GT. the car is designed for independent rally teams with more-than-modest budgets.


As part of its development program, the Rally GT has already competed in three French Rally Championship events, coming second in the Series GT class on its debut at the Lyon to Charbonniers Rally. As with the DBR9, the Rally GT uses a standard road car chassis which is fitted with a Prodrive-designed roll cage for safety and increased torsional rigidity. The engine is closely based on the all alloy road car 4.3 litre V8 unit but has been tuned to make it more flexible and responsive for the demands of rallying. Gallery after the jump…

Aston Martin has announced a new partnership with Danish high-end stereo maker Bang & Olufsen. The stereo maker's stock rose in anticipation of the deal being inked with a larger automaker — it was believed that Mercedes-Benz would be the partnering automaker — but Bang & Olufsen's shares fell 4% after Aston Martin was announced as the partner.

Bang & Olufsen already has a similar deal with Audi.

This week has been a busy one for the British automaker, with the announcement of a new design studio and the unveiling of its V12 Vantage RS.

Bang & Olufsen's shares fell 4% after Aston Martin was announced as the partner.

Aston Martin could cooperate with Mercedes-Benz on everything from engines to whole vehicles, said Adham Charanoglu, business development manager for Investment Dar, which owns most of Aston Martin.

Investment Dar, along with other investors, purchased Aston from Ford last year.

While no specific details about plans or even talks between the companies were disclosed, Charanoglu's candid commentary on the matter suggests some type of affiliation is on the table.

Despite his ambiguity on automotive projects, Charanoglu disclosed Aston Martin is talking with Mercedes, Louis Vuitton, and Gucci about co-branded merchandise. He said Aston wants to grow its $100 million merchandising business to $300 million by 2009, according to Automotive News.

He also noted the company would be increasing production slightly from 7,000 units a year to 8,000. The move won't do much to decrease wait times, however.

"If you have the money, you have to wait. Otherwise you will not feel attached to your car," Charanoglu said.

A new report from the U.K. suggests Mercedes-Benz is looking to buy heavily into Aston Martin. The news is not confirmed, but is alleged to come from well-placed sources in Germany. There have been reports of the two working together as recently as March, including Aston's interest in MB's hybrid technology and mention of the two teaming up on projects, so there may be some truth to that. Furthermore, the recent news of Mercedes stopping SLR production and separating from McLaren is also a possible indication.

Aston Martin's majority shareholder is Kuwait-based Investment Dar, and Kuwaiti Investment Authority owns seven percent of Daimler AG, MB's parent, according to Autocar's report. With only three models in its line-up — the DBS, DB9 and V8 Vantage — Aston Martin is a relatively small automaker and could certainly use the cash infusion and collaboration involved with a bigger manufacturer such as Mercedes.

If this news is to be trusted and the deal goes through, expect the next-generation aluminum-chassis SL to be a basis for an Aston Martin flagship as well, and other models with very similar mechanical specs.

Aston Martin not for sale just yet

Despite recent rumors from Germany of Mercedes-Benz buying Aston Martin, executives from the British marque said on Monday they're not going to sell "all or part of the company." Aston's new management team has, however, been involved in talks regarding sharing technical developing costs or components with a number of global vehicle manufacturers.


According to an Autocar report, shares in the luxury carmaker could be offered in an Initial Public Offering on the open market within five years, though no other details were mentioned.

Rumors of Mercedes' interest in Aston first came in February, then again on technology sharing in March, with the latest coming last week.