Aston Martin

Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings plc

Type	Public
Traded as	LSE: AML
Industry	Automobile manufacturing, luxury goods
Founded	London, 1913 (1913)
Founders	Lionel Martin Robert Bamford
Headquarters	Gaydon, Warwickshire, England, United Kingdom
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Penny Hughes (Chair) Andy Palmer (President and Group CEO)
Products	Automobiles, luxury goods
Revenue	£876 million (2017)[1]
Operating income	£148.8 million (2017)[2]
Net income	£79 million (2017) [2]
Number of employees	1,850[3]
Subsidiaries	Aston Martin Racing Lagonda
Website	astonmartin.com astonmartinlagonda.com

Aston Martin DB11 front end

Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings plc is a British manufacturer of luxury sports cars and grand tourers. It was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Steered from 1947 by David Brown, it became associated with expensive grand touring cars in the 1950s and 1960s, and with the fictional character James Bond following his use of a DB5 model in the 1964 film Goldfinger. Their sports cars are regarded as a British cultural icon.^[4] Aston Martin has held a Royal Warrant as purveyor of motorcars to the Prince of Wales since 1982.^[5] It has over 150 car dealerships in over 50 countries on six continents making them a global automobile brand.^[6] The company is traded at the London Stock Exchange. ^[7]

Headquarters and main production site are in Gaydon, Warwickshire, England, alongside one of Jaguar Land Rover's development centres on the site of a former RAF V Bomber airbase. One of Aston Martin's recent cars was named after the 1950s Vulcan Bomber.^[8] Aston Martin has announced plans to turn itself into a global luxury brand, and is increasingly branching out into projects including speed boats, bicycles, clothing and real estate development, even submarines^[9] and airplanes, mostly on a licensing basis.^{[10][11][12][13][14][15][16]}

History

Aston Martin had a troubled history after the third quarter of the 20th century but has also enjoyed long periods of success and stability. "In the first century we went bankrupt seven times", incoming CEO Andy Palmer told Automotive News Europe. "The second century is about making sure that is not the case."^[17] On the back of strong demand for Aston Martin's DB11, its first all-new model in a decade, the company swung back to a profit in the first quarter of 2017 after sustaining six years of losses. The company ended 2017 with pre-tax profit of £87m, compared with a £163m loss in 2016.^[18][19]

Founding

Aston Martin was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford.^[20] The two had joined forces as Bamford & Martin the previous year to sell cars made by Singer from premises in Callow Street, London where they also serviced GWK and Calthorpe vehicles. Martin raced specials at Aston Hill near Aston Clinton, and the pair decided to make their own vehicles.^[21] The first car to be named Aston Martin was created by Martin by fitting a four-cylinder Coventry-Simplex engine to the chassis of a 1908 Isotta Fraschini.^[22][23]

They acquired premises at Henniker Mews^[24] in Kensington and produced their first car in March 1915. Production could not start because of the outbreak of World War I, and Martin joined the Admiralty and Bamford the Royal Army Service Corps. All machinery was sold to the Sopwith Aviation Company.

Inter war years

1923 Razor Blade Team car

1924 tourer

1937 2-Litre open 2/4-seater Speed model, Kop Hill 2010

After the war they found new premises at Abingdon Road, Kensington and designed a new car. Bamford left in 1920 and Bamford & Martin was revitalised with funding from Count Louis Zborowski. In 1922, Bamford & Martin produced cars to compete in the French Grand Prix, which went on to set world speed and endurance records at Brooklands. Three works Team Cars with 16-valve twin cam engines were built for racing and record breaking: chassis number 1914, later developed as the Green Pea; chassis number 1915, the Razor Blade record car; and chassis number 1916, later developed as the Halford Special.^{[citation needed]}

Approximately 55 cars were built for sale in two configurations; long chassis and short chassis. Bamford & Martin went bankrupt in 1924 and was bought by Dorothea, Lady Charnwood who put her son John Benson on the board. Bamford & Martin went under again in 1925 and the factory closed in 1926, with Lionel Martin leaving.^{[citation needed]}

Later that year, Bill Renwick, Augustus (Bert) Bertelli and investors including Lady Charnwood took control of the business. They renamed it Aston Martin Motors and moved it to the former Whitehead Aircraft Limited Hanworth works in Feltham. Renwick and Bertelli had been in partnership some years and had developed an overhead-cam four-cylinder engine using Renwick's patented combustion chamber design, which they had tested in an Enfield-Allday chassis. The only "Renwick and Bertelli" motor car made, it was known as "Buzzbox" and still survives.^{[citation needed]}

The pair had planned to sell their engine to motor manufacturers, but having heard that Aston Martin was no longer in production realised they could capitalise on its reputation to jump start the production of a completely new car.^{[citation needed]}

Between 1926 and 1937 Bertelli was both technical director and designer of all new Aston Martins, since known as "Bertelli cars". They included the 1½-litre "T-type", "International", "Le Mans", "MKII" and its racing derivative, the "Ulster", and the 2-litre 15/98 and its racing derivative, the "Speed Model". Most were open two-seater sports cars bodied by Bert Bertelli's brother Enrico (Harry), with a small number of long-chassis four-seater tourers, dropheads and saloons also produced.^{[citation needed]}

Bertelli was a competent driver keen to race his cars, one of few owner/manufacturer/drivers. The "LM" team cars were very successful in national and international motor racing including at Le Mans and the Mille Miglia.^{[citation needed]}

Financial problems reappeared in 1932. Aston Martin was rescued for a year by Lance Prideaux Brune before passing it on to Sir Arthur Sutherland. In 1936, Aston Martin decided to concentrate on road cars, producing just 700 until World War II halted work. Production shifted to aircraft components during the war.^[25][26]

DB — David Brown

1958 Aston Martin DB Mark III

In 1947, old-established (1860) privately owned Huddersfield gear and machine tools manufacturer David Brown Limited bought Aston Martin putting it under control of its Tractor Group. David Brown became Aston Martin's latest saviour.^[27] He also acquired without its factory Lagonda's business^[28] for its 2.6-litre W. O. Bentley-designed engine. Lagonda moved operations to Newport Pagnell and shared engines, resources and workshops. Aston Martin began to build the classic "DB" series of cars.

In April 1950, they announced planned production of their Le Mans prototype to be called the DB2,^[29] followed by the DB2/4 in 1953, the DB2/4 MkII in 1955, the DB Mark III in 1957 and the Italian-styled 3.7 L DB4 in 1958.

While these models helped Aston Martin establish a good racing pedigree, the DB4 stood out and yielded the famous DB5 in 1963. Aston stayed true to its grand touring style with the DB6 (1965–70), and DBS (1967–1972).

The six-cylinder engines of these cars from 1954 up to 1965 were designed by Tadek Marek.^[30]

Willson

The Tadek Marek-designed V8 engine was a mainstay of the Aston Martin lineup for decades, and was built from 1969 until 2000.

Aston Martin was often financially troubled. In 1972, David Brown paid off all its debts, said to be £5 million or more, and handed it for £101 to Company Developments, a Birmingham-based investment bank consortium chaired by accountant William Willson.^[31] More detail on this period may be read at Willson's biography. The worldwide recession, lack of working capital and the difficulties of developing without proper resources an engine to meet California's exhaust emission requirements — it stopped Aston's US sales — again pulled Aston Martin into receivership at the end of 1974. There were 460 workers when the plant closed.^[32]

Sprague and Curtis

The receiver sold the business in April 1975 for £1.05 million to North American businessmen Peter Sprague of National Semiconductor and Toronto hotelier, George Minden,^[33] and Jeremy Turner, a London businessman,^[34] who insisted to reporters Aston Martin remained a British controlled business. Sprague later claimed he had fallen in love with the factory, not the cars, the workforce's craftsmanship dedication and intelligence. At this point, he and Minden had brought in investor, Alan Curtis, a British office property developer together with George Flather, a retired Sheffield steel magnate.^[35]

Six months later, in September 1975, the factory — shut-down the previous December — re-opened under its new owner Aston Martin Lagonda (1975) Limited with 100 employees and plans to lift staff to 250 by the end of 1975.^[32] In January 1976, AML revealed it now held orders for 150 cars for USA, 100 for other markets and another 80 from a Japanese importing agency.^[36] At the Geneva Motor Show, Fred Hartley, managing director and sales director for 13 years before that, announced he had resigned over "differences in marketing policy".^[37] Alan Curtis made himself managing director.

The new owners pushed Aston Martin into modernising its line, producing the V8 Vantage in 1977, the convertible Volante in 1978, and the one-off William Towns-styled Bulldog in 1980. Towns also styled the futuristic new Lagonda saloon, based on the V8 model.

Curtis, who had a 42% stake in Aston Martin,^[38] also brought about a change in direction from the usual customers who were Aston Martin fanatics (fans) to successful young married businessmen. Prices had been increased by 25%.^[35] There was speculation that AML was about to buy Lamborghini.^[39] At the end of the 1970s, there was widespread debate about running MG into the Aston Martin consortium. 85 Tory MPs formed themselves into a pressure group to get British Leyland to release their grip and hand it over.^[40] CH Industrials plc (car components) bought a 10% share in AML. But in July 1980, blaming a recession, AML cut back their workforce of 450 by more than 20% making those people redundant^[41] and the following day, British Leyland announced it had abandoned hope of an MG rescue by Aston Martin.

Gauntlett

In January 1981, there having been no satisfactory revival partners, Alan Curtis and Peter Sprague announced they had never intended to maintain a long term financial stake in Aston Martin Lagonda and it was to be sold to Pace Petroleum's Victor Gauntlett. Sprague and Curtis pointed out that under their ownership AML finances had improved to where an offer for MG might have been feasible.^[42] Worldwide sales had shrunk to three cars per week, prompting chairman Alan Curtis, Sprague, and Minden to consider shutting down production to concentrate on service and restoration. At this point, Curtis attended the 1980 Pace sponsored Stirling Moss benefit day at Brands Hatch, and met fellow Farnham resident Victor Gauntlett.^{[citation needed]}

Gauntlett bought a 12.5% stake in Aston Martin for £500,000 via Pace Petroleum in 1980, with Tim Hearley of CH Industrials taking a similar share. Pace and CHI took over as joint 50/50 owners at the beginning of 1981, with Gauntlett as executive chairman. Gauntlett also led the sales team, and after some development and publicity when it became the world's fastest four-seater production car, was able to sell the Aston Martin Lagonda in Oman, Kuwait, and Qatar.^[43]

In 1982, Aston Martin was granted a Royal Warrant of Appointment by the Prince of Wales.^[5] Aston Martin holds the warrant to this day.

Understanding that it would take some time to develop new Aston Martin products, they created an engineering service subsidiary to develop automotive products for other companies. It was decided to use a trade name of Salmons & Son, their in-house coachbuilder, Tickford which Aston Martin had bought in 1955. Tickford's name had been long associated with expensive high quality carriages and cars and their folding roofs. New products included a Tickford Austin Metro, a Tickford Ford Capri and even Tickford train interiors, particularly on the Jaguar XJS.^[43] Pace continued sponsoring racing events, and now sponsored all Aston Martin Owners Club events, taking a Tickford-engined Nimrod Group C car owned by AMOC President Viscount Downe, which came third in the Manufacturers Championship in both 1982 and 1983. It also finished seventh in the 1982 24 Hours of Le Mans race. However, sales of production cars were now at an all-time low of 30 cars produced in 1982.^[43]

As trading became tighter in the petroleum market, and Aston Martin was requiring more time and money, Gauntlett agreed to sell Hays/Pace to the Kuwait Investment Office in September 1983. As Aston Martin required greater investment, he also agreed to sell his share holding to American importer and Greek shipping tycoon Peter Livanos, who invested via his joint venture with Nick and John Papanicolaou, ALL Inc. Gauntlett remained chairman of AML 55% owned by ALL, with Tickford a 50/50 venture between ALL and CHI. The uneasy relationship was ended when ALL exercised options to buy a larger share in AML; CHI's residual shares were exchanged for CHI's complete ownership of Tickford, which retained development of existing Aston Martin projects. In 1984 Papanicolaou's Titan shipping business was in trouble so Livanos's father George bought out the Papanicolaou's shares in ALL, while Gauntlett again became a shareholder with a 25% holding in AML. The deal valued Aston Martin/AML at £2 million, the year it built its 10,000th car.^[43]

Although as a result Aston Martin had to make 60 members of the workforce redundant, Gauntlett bought a stake in Italian styling house Zagato, and resurrected its collaboration with Aston Martin.

Aston Martin V8 Vantage from The Living Daylights

In 1986, Gauntlett negotiated the return of fictional British secret agent James Bond to Aston Martin. Cubby Broccoli had chosen to recast the character using actor Timothy Dalton, in an attempt to re-root the Bond-brand back to a more Sean Connery-like feel. Gauntlett supplied his personal pre-production Vantage for use in the filming of The Living Daylights, and sold a Volante to Broccoli for use at his home in America. Gauntlett turned down the role of a KGB colonel in the film, however: "I would have loved to have done it but really could not afford the time."^[44]

Aston Martin needed funds to survive in the long term. In May 1987, Gauntlett and Prince Michael of Kent were staying at the home of Contessa Maggi, the wife of the founder of the original Mille Miglia, while watching the revival event. Another house guest was Walter Hayes, vice-president of Ford of Europe. Despite problems over the previous acquisition of AC Cars, Hayes saw the potential of the brand and the discussion resulted in Ford taking a share holding in September 1987.^[45] In 1988, having produced some 5,000 cars in 20 years, a revived economy and successful sales of limited edition Vantage, and 52 Volante Zagato coupes at £86,000 each; Aston Martin finally retired the ancient V8 and introduced the Virage range—the first new Aston launched in 20 years.

Although Gauntlett was contractually to stay as chairman for two years, his racing interests took Aston back into sports car racing in 1989 with limited European success. However, with engine rule changes for the 1990 season and the launch of the new Aston Martin Volante model, Ford provided the limited supply of Cosworth engines to the Jaguar cars racing team. As the "small Aston" DB7 would require a large engineering input, Ford agreed to take full control of Aston Martin, and Gauntlett handed over Aston Martin's chairmanship to Hayes in 1991.^[46] In 1992, the Vantage version was announced, and the following year Aston Martin renewed the DB range by announcing the DB7.

Ford Motor Company

Ford placed Aston in the Premier Automotive Group, invested in new manufacturing and ramped up production. In 1994, Ford opened a new factory at Banbury Road in Bloxham. In 1995, Aston Martin produced a record 700 vehicles. Until the Ford era, cars had been produced by hand coachbuilding craft methods, such as the English wheel. In 1998, the 2,000th DB7 was built, and in 2002, the 6,000th, exceeding production of all previous DB models. The DB7 range was boosted by the addition of V12 Vantage models in 1999, and in 2001, Aston Martin introduced the V12-engined Aston Martin Vanquish.

At the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan in 2003, Aston Martin introduced the AMV8 Vantage concept car. Expected to have few changes before its introduction in 2005, the Vantage brought back the classic V8 engine to allow Aston Martin to compete in a larger market. 2003 also saw the opening of the Gaydon factory, the first purpose-built factory in Aston Martin's history. Also introduced in 2003 was the DB9 coupé, which replaced the ten-year-old DB7. A convertible version of the DB9, the DB9 Volante, was introduced at the 2004 Detroit Auto Show.

In October 2004, Aston Martin set up the dedicated 12,500 square metres (135,000 sq ft) AMEP engine production plant within the Ford Germany Niehl, Cologne plant. With capacity to produce up to 5,000 engines a year by 100 specially trained personnel, like traditional Aston Martin engine production from Newport Pagnell, assembly of each unit is entrusted to a single technician from a pool of 30, with V8 and V12 variants assembled in under 20 hours. By bringing engine production back to within Aston Martin, the promise was that Aston Martin would be able to produce small runs of higher performance variants engines.^[47] This expanded engine capacity allowed in 2006, the V8 Vantage sports car to enter production at the Gaydon factory, joining the DB9 and DB9 Volante.

In December 2003, Aston Martin announced it would return to motor racing in 2005. A new division was created, called Aston Martin Racing, which became responsible, together with Prodrive, for the design, development, and management of the DBR9 program. The DBR9 competes in the GT class in sports car races, including the world-famous 24 Hours of Le Mans.

In 2006, an internal audit led Ford to consider divesting itself of parts of its Premier Automotive Group. After suggestions of selling Jaguar Cars, Land Rover, or Volvo Cars were weighed, Ford announced in August 2006 it had engaged UBS AG to sell all or part of Aston Martin at auction.^[48]

2007—the Richards era

On 12 March 2007, a consortium led by Prodrive chairman David Richards purchased Aston Martin for £475m (US$848m).^[49] The group included American investment banker John Singers and two Kuwaiti companies, Investment Dar and Adeem Investment;^[50][51] Prodrive had no financial involvement in the deal.^[52] Ford kept a stake in Aston Martin valued at £40m (US$70m).

To demonstrate the V8 Vantage's durability across hazardous terrain and promote the car in China, the first east-west crossing of the Asian Highway was undertaken between June and August 2007. A pair of Britons drove 12,089 km (7,512 miles) from Tokyo to Istanbul before joining the European motorway network for another 3,259 km (2,025 miles) to London. The promotion was so successful Aston Martin opened dealerships in Shanghai and Beijing within three months.^[53]

On 19 July 2007, the Newport Pagnell plant rolled out the last of nearly 13,000 cars made there since 1955, a Vanquish S. The Tickford Street facility was converted to Aston Martin's service and restoration department.^[54] UK production is now concentrated at Gaydon on the former RAF V-bomber airfield.^[55] In March 2008, Aston Martin announced a partnership with Magna Steyr to outsource manufacture of over 2,000 cars annually to Graz, Austria, reassuringly stating: "The continuing growth and success of Aston Martin is based upon Gaydon as the focal point and heart of the business, with the design and engineering of all Aston Martin products continuing to be carried out there."^[56]

More dealers in Europe and the new pair in China brought the total to 120 in 28 countries.^[57]

On 1 September 2008, Aston Martin announced the revival of the Lagonda marque, proposing a concept to be shown in 2009 to coincide with the brand's 100th anniversary. The first production cars are slated for 2012.^[58]

In December 2008, Aston Martin announced it would cut its workforce from 1,850 to 1,250.^[59]

The first four-door Aston Martin Rapide sports cars rolled out of the Magna Steyr factory in Graz, Austria in 2010.^[60] The contract manufacturer provides dedicated facilities to ensure compliance with the exacting standards of Aston Martin and other marques, including Mercedes-Benz. Ulrich Bez has publicly speculated about outsourcing all of Aston Martin's operations with the exception of marketing.^[61] In September 2011, it was announced Rapide production would be returned to Gaydon in the second half of 2012, restoring all manufacture there.^[62]

2012—Investindustrial stakeholding and new chief executive officer

Italian private equity fund Investindustrial signed a deal on 6 December 2012 to buy 37.5% of Aston Martin, investing £150 million as a capital increase.^{[63][64][65][66]} This was confirmed by Aston Martin in a press release on 7 December 2012.^[67] In April 2013, it was reported that Dr Ulrich Bez would be leaving his role as chief executive officer to take up a more ambassadorial position^[68] widely seen as the first move by the new shareholders in reviewing the leadership and strategy of Aston Martin. On 2 September 2014, Aston Martin announced it had appointed the Nissan executive Andy Palmer as CEO^[69] with Ulrich Bez retaining a position as non-executive chairman. As sales had been declining, from 2015 Aston Martin sought new customers (particularly wealthy female buyers) with cars like Lagonda and DBX while releasing concept cars like the Vulcan.^[70][71] According to Palmer, the troubles started when sales of the DB9 failed to generate sufficient fund to develop next-generation models which led to a downward spiral of declining sales and profitability.^[17]

In 2014, Aston Martin suffered a pre-tax loss of £72 million, almost triple that of 2013 selling 3,500 cars during the year, well below 7,300 sold in 2007 and 4,200 sold in 2013.^[72] In March 2014, Aston Martin issued "payment in kind" notes of US$165 million, at 10.25% interest, in addition to the £304 million of senior secured notes at 9.25% issued in 2011.^[72] Aston Martin also had to secure an additional investment of £200 million from its shareholders to fund development of new models.^[72] It is reported that Aston Martin's pre-tax losses for 2016 increased by 27% to £162.8 million, the sixth year it continued to suffer a loss.^[73]

Relationship with Mercedes-AMG

In 2013, Aston Martin signed a deal with Daimler AG, which owned 5% of Aston Martin, to supply the next generation of Aston Martin cars with Mercedes-AMG engines.^[74] Mercedes-AMG also was to supply Aston Martin with electrical systems. This technical partnership was intended to support Aston Martin's launch of a new generation of models that would incorporate new technology and V8s. The first model to sport Mercedes technology was the DB11, announced at the 2016 Geneva Motor, and containing Mercedes electronics for the entertainment, navigation and other systems. The 2019 V8 Vantage, unveiled in late 2017, employed Mercedes twin-turbo V8 and infotainment systems.

Going public

After “completing a turnaround for the once perennially loss-making company that could now be valued at up to 5 billion pounds ($6.4 billion),” (Reuters ^[18]) and on the back of a 2017 full-year a pre-tax profit of £87m (compared with a £163m loss in 2016) Aston Martin in August 2018 announced plans to float the company at the London Stock Exchange as Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings plc^[75][18] The company went public at the London Stock Exchange on October 3, 2018.^[7]

Notable events

In August 2017, a 1956 Aston Martin DBR1/1 sold at a Sotheby's auction at the Pebble Beach, California Concours d'Elegance for $22,550,000, which made it the most-expensive British car ever sold at auction, according to Sotheby's. The car was driven before by racing legends Carroll Shelby and Stirling Moss. ^[76][77]

Models

Pre-war cars

Post-war sports and GT cars the David Brown era

Other

Current models

Upcoming models

• Aston Martin models
• 

  1932–1934 Aston Martin Le Mans short chassis

• 

  1948–1950 Aston Martin DB1

• 

  1950–1957 DB2 and later DB2/4

• 

  1957–1959 Aston Martin DB Mark III

• 

  1958–1963 Aston Martin DB4/GT

• 

  1961–1963 Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato

• 

  1963–1965 Aston Martin DB5

• 

  1965–1971 Aston Martin DB6

• 

  1967–1989 DBS and later V8s

• 

  1986–1990 Aston Martin V8 Zagato

• 

  1989–2000 Virage/V8/Vantage

• 

  1993–2003 Aston Martin DB7/Vantage

• 

  2001–2007 Aston Martin V12 Vanquish/S

• 

  2002–2003 DB7 Zagato coupé/roadster

• 

  2002–2004 Aston Martin DB AR1 roadster

• 

  2003–2016 Aston Martin DB9 coupé/Volante

• 

  2005–2017 Aston Martin V8/V12 Vantage

• 

  2007–2012 Aston Martin DBS V12

• 

  2009–2012 Aston Martin One-77

• 

  2010– Aston Martin Rapide

• 

  2011–2012 Aston Martin Virage

• 

  2011–2013 Aston Martin Cygnet

• 

  2012–2013 Aston Martin V12 Zagato

• 

  2012–2018 Aston Martin Vanquish

• 

  2016– Aston Martin DB11

• 

  2017– Aston Martin Vantage

• 

  2018– Aston Martin DBS Superleggera

Brand expansion

Since 2015, Aston Martin has sought to increase its appeal to women as a luxury lifestyle brand. To a certain degree, this meant that the company moved away from its traditional automotive core business.^[84] A female advisory panel was established to adapt the design of the cars to the taste of women.^[85]

Aston Martin has also diversified into other market areas in the modern day. In September 2016, a 37-foot long Aston Martin speedboat was unveiled called the Aston Martin AM37 powerboat. The cabin of the boat has mood lighting and air conditioning complete with a microwave oven, refrigerator and a table that converts into a bed meaning that the AM37 is a complete day and night cruiser. Two versions of the boat are available with an AM37S version reaching speeds of 50 knots.^[86]

A year later in September 2017, Aston Martin announced that they had partnered with submarine building company Triton Submarines LLC to build an Aston Martin Submarine called project neptune.^[87]

Aston Martin has also diversified into the fashion industry collaborating with luxury clothing company Hackett London to deliver items of clothing that supposedly match the luxury feel of Aston Martin vehicles.^[15]

In November 2017, Aston Martin unveiled a special limited edition bicycle after collaborating with bicycle manufacturer Storck. Only 107 of the Fascenario.3 Aston Martin Edition will be produced. The frame and forks are the result of advances in carbon fibre and aerodynamics.^[14]

Aston Martin and global property developer G&G Business Developments are currently building a 66-storey luxury condominium tower called Aston Martin Residences at 300 Biscayne Boulevard Way in Miami, Florida which is set for completion in 2021.^[88]

In July 2018, Aston Martin unveiled the Volante Vision Concept, a luxury concept aircraft with vertical take-off and landing capabilities.^[89] Also in July, a Lego version of James Bond's DB5 car was put on sale.^[90]

Motorsport

DBR1/2 at Goodwood Festival of Speed 2009

Part of Aston Martin's current racing program, Charouz Racing System competes with sports prototypes powered by an Aston Martin V12

Aston Martin DBR9

Whole race cars (post-war)

Engine supply only

Formula One World Championship results

(key)

Year	Chassis	Engine	Tyres	Driver	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Points	WCC
1959	Aston Martin DBR4	Aston Martin L6	Avon Dunlop		MON	500	NED	FRA	GBR	GER	POR	ITA	USA		0	5th
				Roy Salvadori			Ret		6		6	Ret
				Carroll Shelby			Ret		Ret		8	10
1960	Aston Martin DBR4	Aston Martin L6	Dunlop		ARG	MON	500	NED	BEL	FRA	GBR	POR	ITA	USA	0	8th
				Roy Salvadori				DNS
	Aston Martin DBR5										Ret
				Maurice Trintignant							11
Source:[91]

24 Hours of Le Mans finishes

Year	Pos	Class	No	Team	Drivers	Chassis	Engine	Laps
1931	5	1.5	25	Aston Martin	A.C. Bertelli Maurice Harvey	Aston Martin 1½-litre International	Aston Martin 1.5L I4	139
1932	5	1.5	20	Aston Martin Ltd.	Sammy Newsome Henken Widengren	Aston Martin 1½-litre Le Mans	Aston Martin 1.5L I4	174
	7	1.5	21	Aston Martin Ltd.	A.C. Bertelli Pat Driscoll	Aston Martin 1½-litre Le Mans	Aston Martin 1.5L I4	168
1933	5	1.5	25	Aston Martin Ltd.	Pat Driscoll Clifton Penn-Hughes	Aston Martin 1½-litre Le Mans	Aston Martin 1.5L I4	188
	7	1.5	24	Aston Martin Ltd.	A.C. Bertelli Sammy Davis	Aston Martin 1½-litre Le Mans	Aston Martin 1.5L I4	174
1934	10	1.5	20	M.R.E. Tongue	Reggie Tongue Maurice Faulkner	Aston Martin 1½-litre Le Mans	Aston Martin 1.5L I4	188
	11	1.5	24	John Cecil Noël	John Cecil Noël Jen Wheeler	Aston Martin 1½-litre Le Mans	Aston Martin 1.5L I4	180
1935	3	1.5	29	Roy Eccles	Charles E.C. Martin Charles Brackenbury	Aston Martin 1½-litre Ulster	Aston Martin 1.5L I4	215
	8	1.5	33	Maurice Faulkner	Maurice Faulkner Tom Clarke	Aston Martin 1½-litre Ulster	Aston Martin 1.5L I4	202
	10	1.5	32	C.T. Thomas	C.T. Thomas M. Kenyon	Aston Martin 1½-litre Ulster	Aston Martin 1.5L I4	199
	11	1.5	31	P.L. Donkin	Peter Donkin Lord Malcolm Douglas-Hamilton	Aston Martin 1½-litre Ulster	Aston Martin 1.5L I4	199
	12	1.5	27	John Cecil Noël	Jim Elwes Mortimer Morris-Goodall	Aston Martin 1½-litre	Aston Martin 1.5L I4	196
	15	1.5	30	R.P. Gardner	R.P. Gardner A.C. Beloë	Aston Martin 1½-litre Ulster	Aston Martin 1.5L I4	190
1937	5	1.5	37	J.M. Skeffington	J.M. Skeffington R.C. Murton-Neale	Aston Martin 1½-litre Ulster	Aston Martin 1.5L I4	205
	11	2.0	31	C.T. Thomas	Mortimer Morris-Goodall Robert P. Hichens	Aston Martin Speed Model	Aston Martin 2.0L I4	193
1939	12	2.0	29	Robert Peverell Hichens	Robert P. Hichens Mortimer Morris-Goodall	Aston Martin Speed Model	Aston Martin 2.0L I4	199
1949	7	S 2.0	27	Arthur Jones	Arthur Jones Nick Haines	Aston Martin 2-Litre Sports (DB1)	Aston Martin 2.0L I4	207
	11	S 2.0	29	Robert Lawrie	Robert Lawrie Robert W. Walke	Aston Martin 2-Litre Sports (DB1)	Aston Martin 2.0L I4	?
1950	5	S 3.0	19	Aston Martin Ltd.	George Abecassis Lance Macklin	Aston Martin DB2	Aston Martin 2.6L I6	249
	6	S 3.0	21	Aston Martin Ltd.	Charles Brackenbury Reg Parnell	Aston Martin DB2	Aston Martin 2.6L I6	244
1951	3	S 3.0	26	Aston Martin Ltd.	Lance Macklin Eric Thompson	Aston Martin DB2	Aston Martin 2.6L I6	257
	5	S 3.0	25	Aston Martin Ltd.	George Abecassis Brian Shawe-Taylor	Aston Martin DB2	Aston Martin 2.6L I6	255
	7	S 3.0	24	Aston Martin Ltd.	Reg Parnell David Hampshire	Aston Martin DB2	Aston Martin 2.6L I6	252
	10	S 3.0	28	N.H. Mann	Nigel Mann Mortimer Morris-Goodall	Aston Martin DB2	Aston Martin 2.6L I6	236
	13	S 3.0	27	P.T.C. Clark	Peter Clark James Scott-Douglas	Aston Martin DB2	Aston Martin 2.6L I6	233
1952	7	S 3.0	32	Peter C.T. Clark	Peter Clark Mike Keen	Aston Martin DB2	Aston Martin 2.6L I6	248
1955	2	S 3.0	23	Aston Martin Ltd.	Peter Collins Paul Frère	Aston Martin DB3S	Aston Martin 2.9L I6	302
1956	2	S 3.0	8	Aston Martin Ltd.	Stirling Moss Peter Collins	Aston Martin DB3S	Aston Martin 2.9L I6	299
1957	11	S 3000	21	David Brown	Jean-Paul Colas Jean Kerguen	Aston Martin DB3S	Aston Martin 3.0L I6	272
1958	2	S 3000	5	P & A.G. Whitehead	Graham Whitehead Peter Whitehead	Aston Martin DB3S	Aston Martin 3.0L I6	293
1959	1	S 3.0	5	David Brown Racing Dept.	Carroll Shelby Roy Salvadori	Aston Martin DBR1/300	Aston Martin 3.0L I6	323
	2	S 3.0	6	David Brown Racing Dept.	Maurice Trintignant Paul Frère	Aston Martin DBR1/300	Aston Martin 3.0L I6	322
1960	3	S 3.0	7	Border Reivers	Roy Salvadori Jim Clark	Aston Martin DBR1/300	Aston Martin 3.0L I6	306
	9	S 3.0	8	Major Ian B. Baillie	Ian B. Baillie Jack Fairman	Aston Martin DBR1/300	Aston Martin 3.0L I6	281
1977	17	GTP	83	SAS Robin Hamilton	Robin Hamilton David Preece Mike Salmon	Aston Martin DBS V8 RHAM/1	Aston Martin 5.3L V8	260
1982	7	C	32	Viscount Downe Pace Petroleum	Ray Mallock Simon Phillips Mike Salmon	Nimrod NRA/C2	Aston Martin-Tickford DP1229 5.3L V8	317
1983	17	C	41	EMKA Productions Ltd.	Tiff Needell Steve O'Rourke Nick Faure	EMKA C83/1	Aston Martin-Tickford 5.3L V8	275
1985	11	C1	66	EMKA Productions, Ltd.	Tiff Needell Steve O'Rourke Nick Faure	EMKA C84/1	Aston Martin-Tickford 5.3L V8	338
1989	11	C1	18	Aston Martin Ecurie Ecosse	Brian Redman Michael Roe Costas Los	Aston Martin AMR1	Aston Martin (Callaway) RDP87 6.0L V8	340
2005	9	GT1	59	Aston Martin Racing	David Brabham Stéphane Sarrazin Darren Turner	Aston Martin DBR9	Aston Martin 6.0L V12	333
2006	6	GT1	007	Aston Martin Racing	Tomáš Enge Darren Turner Andrea Piccini	Aston Martin DBR9	Aston Martin 6.0L V12	350
	9	GT1	62	Russian Age Racing Team Modena	Antonio García David Brabham Nelson Piquet Jr.	Aston Martin DBR9	Aston Martin 6.0L V12	343
	10	GT1	009	Aston Martin Racing	Pedro Lamy Stéphane Sarrazin Stéphane Ortelli	Aston Martin DBR9	Aston Martin 6.0L V12	342
2007	1	GT1	009	Aston Martin Racing	David Brabham Darren Turner Rickard Rydell	Aston Martin DBR9	Aston Martin 6.0L V12	343[92]
	3	GT1	008	AMR Larbre Compétition	Casper Elgaard Johnny Herbert Fabrizio Gollin	Aston Martin DBR9	Aston Martin 6.0L V12	341[92]
	4	GT1	007	Aston Martin Racing	Tomáš Enge Johnny Herbert Peter Kox	Aston Martin DBR9	Aston Martin 6.0L V12	337[92]
2008	1	GT1	009	Aston Martin Racing	David Brabham Darren Turner Antonio Garcia	Aston Martin DBR9	Aston Martin 6.0L V12	344
	4	GT1	007	Aston Martin Racing	Heinz-Harald Frentzen Andrea Piccini Karl Wendlinger	Aston Martin DBR9	Aston Martin 6.0L V12	339
2009	4	LMP1	007	AMR Eastern Europe	Tomáš Enge Jan Charouz Stefan Mücke	Lola-Aston Martin B09/60	Aston Martin 6.0L V12	373
	13	LMP1	008	Aston Martin Racing	Anthony Davidson Darren Turner Jos Verstappen	Lola-Aston Martin B09/60	Aston Martin 6.0L V12	342
	3	GT1	66	Jetalliance Racing	Lukas Lichtner-Hoyer Thomas Gruber Alex Müller	Aston Martin DBR9	Aston Martin 6.0L V12	294
2010	6	LMP1	007	Aston Martin Racing	Harold Primat Adrián Fernández Stefan Mücke	Lola-Aston Martin B09/60	Aston Martin 6.0L V12	365
	3	GT1	52	Young Driver AMR	Tomáš Enge Christoffer Nygaard Peter Kox	Aston Martin DBR9	Aston Martin 6.0L V12	311
2011	7	LMP1	22	Kronos Racing Marc VDS Racing Team	Vanina Ickx Bas Leinders Maxime Martin	Lola-Aston Martin B09/60	Aston Martin 6.0L V12	328
2012	3	GTE-Pro	97	Aston Martin Racing	Darren Turner Adrián Fernández Stefan Mücke	Aston Martin V8 Vantage GTE	Aston Martin 4.5L V8	332
2013	3	GTE-Pro	97	Aston Martin Racing	Darren Turner Peter Dumbreck Stefan Mücke	Aston Martin V8 Vantage GTE	Aston Martin 4.5L V8	314
	6	GTE-Am	96	Aston Martin Racing	Roald Goethe Jamie Campbell-Walter Stuart Hall	Aston Martin V8 Vantage GTE	Aston Martin 4.5L V8	301

Sponsorships

Aston Martin sponsors 2. Bundesliga club 1860 Munich.^[93]

See also

• Aston Martin Heritage Trust Museum
• Aston Martin Owners Club
• List of car manufacturers of the United Kingdom

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Aston Martin vehicles.

• Official website
• Official Aston Martin Owners Club