Just last year, Ford sold British sports car maker Aston Martin to a consortium of investors led by Kuwait’s Investment Dar. But the storied brand could change hands again. Investment Dar is said to be considering selling a stake in the company — or perhaps the whole thing — as part of its debt restructuring.


Although Aston is seeing tough times — the company laid off a third of its staff in December — the reason for the potential sale has more to do with the investors’ financial situation than anything else, according to the U.K.’s Financial Times.

Investment Dar was founded in 1994 by a group of prominent Kuwaiti investors. Today, it has a debt of $3.4 billion, which is currently in the process of being restructured. This could include equity swaps and other asset sales.

The firm paid over $848 million for Aston Martin, and it’s conceivable it might wish to minimize further risk by shedding the car company. That said, no firm numbers have surfaced as a part of these rumors.

Aston Martin may have found a new owner. After just five years under the control of Investment Dar, the Kuwaiti firm has reportedly agreed to sell the legendary British sports car maker to London-based private equity fund Investindustrial.

According to Bloomberg, Investment Dar has agreed to sell Aston Martin to Investindustrial, although the final paper work has yet to be signed. India's Mahindra & Mahindra was also in the running to purchase Aston Martin, but Investment Dar views Investindustrial as the best fit for the automaker.

“An industrial owner would have been preferable to a financial owner,” Ashvin Chotai, the managing director of Intelligence Automotive Asia in London, told Bloomberg. “Probably Mahindra could have provided them with a long-term commitment. That said, it was a trophy asset for Mahindra and would have required a lot of investment with very few synergies.”

Investindustrial isn't a stranger to the high-end motoring world. The company owned Ducati before selling the motorcycle brand to Audi earlier this year.

According to insiders, Investindustrial's proposal included plans to use AMG-sourced parts for future Aston Martin models. Aston Martin has been long-rumored to be interested in Mercedes-Benz' performance parts bin, although nothing has ever come to fruition.

Aston Martin is valued at $1.21 billion, but it remains to be seen how big Investindustrial's investment will be in the company.

Through the first nine months of the year Aston Martin's sales have fallen 20 percent to 2,520 vehicles.

With Italy’s Investindustrial recently agreeing to purchase a 37.5 percent stake in Aston Martin, talk of a potential tie-up between the British automaker and Mercedes-Benz’s performance arm AMG has flared up.

It all stems from Investindustrial previously owning Ducati, which before being sold to Audi was linked with AMG through a shared marketing arrangement.

There’s also a previous link between Aston Martin and Mercedes-Benz over a failed deal to share everything from drivetrains to vehicle platforms and even production. Mercedes was considering outsourcing production of a future Maybach sedan to Aston Martin, which was looking to build its own flagship for its revived Lagonda brand.

A source at Mercedes has now revealed to Autocar that Investindustrial has contacted the German automaker, asking if it would be interested in being a technology partner for Aston Martin.

The source went on to reveal that Aston Martin is in need of new drivetrains as well as electronic architectures, things AMG could potentially supply. Many readers will recall that AMG already supplies Pagani with a unique twin-turbocharged V-12 for use in its Huayra supercar.

Some of the potential components that may be offered to Aston Martin include twin-turbocharged 6.0-liter V-12 and 5.5-liter V-8 engines, as well as a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. AMG is also reportedly developing a new twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V-8.

AMG’s “one man, one engine” manufacturing philosophy is certainly in keeping with the exclusiveness and luster of Aston Martin, so there’s no need to worry about the brand being diluted. After all, Aston Martin's existing engines are built by Ford under an agreement that’s scheduled to end in 2013.

With Investindustrial’s investment, Aston Martin now has the cash to execute a new development program that will see 100 million pounds (approximately $162 million) spent per year over the next five years. Potentially, some of those funds will make it over to AMG’s coffers in return for new hardware.

Let’s hope it hope it does, as a seductive Aston Martin body with AMG power sounds good to us.

Contrary to a welter of reports circulating around the automotive universe, Daimler is not looking to take its current partnership with Aston Martin to a full buyout.

Various sources on the web have made much of some rather vague statements from Daimler chairman Dieter Zetsche, attempting to read into them the intent to take over Aston Martin completely.

Currently, Daimler subsidiary Mercedes-AMG has acquired the rights to up to a 5 percent non-voting stake in Aston Martin as part of a technology-sharing deal, wherein Aston Martin will receive AMG-developed engines for its next generation of cars (though those engines won't bear AMG badges), as well as electrical and electronic components.

Speaking with High Gear Media at this year's Detroit Auto Show, Zetsche made it plain that an outright takeover isn't in the works. When asked about the current Daimler-Aston partnership, Zetsche explained that it's "a win-win for both sides," and that Aston Martin is "a great brand with a great history, with limited volume."

But when the topic turned to an acquisition of Aston Martin, Zetsche said Daimler has "no plan of that kind," because "it could deduct too much management attention." Instead, Daimler prefers to "do that at arms length," indicating the current status of the partnership meets the company's needs.

That partnership is expected to bear its first fruit in the replacement to the V8 Vantage, which will receive some form of co-developed AMG V-8 engine.

Other stakeholders in Aston Martin include Investment DAR, Adeem Investment, Prime Wagon, and Investindustrial.

Want to drive something fast, loud and rear-wheel drive on ice? Of course you do. Aston Martin knows this too, putting on an ice-driving program at Crested Butte in Colorado, which is just the ticket as we recently discovered.
It gives Aston owners the opportunity to experience the latest Aston Martin models in conditions they may not normally encounter. Greater safety too, with a custom-made ice track giving drivers plenty of run-off space, as well as a braking and cornering exercise loop, slalom, skid pad and full circuit. Participants got a chance to try out each discipline, with a series of braking, cornering and handling exercises, all under the watchful gaze of expert tutors.

Following initial exercises, drivers then got to try out the mile-long circuit--though we doubt all owners drifted quite as gracefully as Aston's publicity shots make out. “The ability to experience a range of our cars in a unique and controlled environment resonates with Aston Martin customers and enthusiasts who are united by a shared passion for driving," explained Aston Martin The Americas president Julian Jenkins.

You're too late for this year's event, sadly, but On Ice will return in February 2015. "After this hugely successful first year we expect the On Ice program to become a mainstay of our customer experience offerings here in North America" said Jenkins. If you own an Aston Martin and feel like brushing up on your winter skills, fire off an email to concierge@astonmartindriving.com for more information.

Nissan executive vice president Andy Palmer, a performance car champion with an engineering background, has been named CEO of Aston Martin. The famous British sports car brand has been without a CEO for some time, with previous CEO Ulrich Bez stepping down in early 2013, so Palmer’s appointment brings a close to this chapter.

Palmer’s duties at Aston Martin will commence after he completes a transition period from his former employer, where the 51-year-old Brit was in charge of product planning. Replacing Palmer at Nissan is Philippe Klein, a veteran of Nissan alliance partner Renault.

Palmer will assume operational responsibility for all aspects of the Aston Martin business and will lead the company during one of the most important times in its 100-year history. Aston Martin is in the process of developing a new platform that will underpin all of its future models for at least the next decade.

His wealth of experience on the global automotive stage in not only engineering and technology but also marketing and sales, will be instrumental in taking Aston Martin forward through the coming period. His career saw him work briefly at Rover during the 1980s as a transmission chief, and he first joined Nissan as far back as 1991.

Note, Palmer is the third senior executive to have left the Renault Nissan alliance in recent times. In July, Infiniti president Johan de Nysschen quit to take up the reins at Cadillac, and in 2013 senior Renault exec Carlos Tavares jumped ship to head French rival PSA Peugeot Citroën. The Renault Nissan alliance remains headed by Carlos Ghosn.

Aston Martin is again offering adventurous drivers the chance to experience the power and performance of its great British luxury sports cars in one of the United States’ most rugged and demanding environments.

After a successful inaugural year in 2014, Aston Martin On Ice returns to the authentic western town of Crested Butte in the heart of the Colorado Rocky Mountains in early 2015 for a second season of adrenaline-fuelled thrills and luxurious living.

Providing drivers with the chance to try the brand’s sports cars in an environment far removed for their more usual roads, the three-day On Ice progam includes a 10-acre surface which has been painstakingly constructed over some 250 man hours to entertain and inform its participants.

The exclusive tracks in Colorado are all precisely tailored to Aston Martin’s exacting requirements and are meticulously built and maintained by the brand’s team of experts before and throughout the ice driving activity, which will take place over two three-day sessions in February next year.

Comprising a braking/cornering exercise loop, slalom, skid pad and full circuit, work on the bespoke Aston Martin track has already been under way for some weeks. Under expert tuition, participants will test and hone their car control in a series of braking, cornering and handling exercises before further putting their skills to the test on a mile-long frozen road course.

President, Aston Martin The Americas, Julian Jenkins said: “After a hugely successful first year we are returning with an On Ice program that will once again deliver a genuinely thrilling experience in Colorado’s breath-taking high country.

“Combining extreme driving, in an extreme environment, with typically sumptuous Aston Martin luxury living, the 2015 On Ice activity is sure to be amongst the highlights of our year.”

The ice driving event is one of a number of Aston Martin bespoke driving experiences that take place across the country each year.

Those wishing to find out more about the February event, or any of Aston Martin’s other signature drive events, should contact concierge@astonmartindriving.com