Aston Martin

Aston Martin

Aston Martin Lagonda Limited designs, manufactures and distributes luxury sports cars. Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford founded Aston Martin in 1914, creating the company name by combining Lionel Martin's surname and the location of the Aston Clinton Hillclimb near Aston Clinton in Buckinghamshire, England. Aston Martin is based in Gaydon, Warwickshire, England, where all cars are manuactured except the Rapide, which is produced in Austria under contract by Magna Steyr.

From 1994 until 2007, Aston Martin was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Ford Motor Company, becoming part of Ford's Premier Automotive Group when it was formed in 2000. On 12 March 2007, a consortium of investors purchased 90% of Aston Martin for £479 million. The investors consist of David Richards, who led the group, John Singers, an American investment banker; and two Kuwaiti investment companies, Investment Dar and Adeem Investment. Ford retained a US$77 million stake in Aston Martin.