Ford Sells Aston Martin

Ford Motor Co. earlier sold the Aston Martin, its British unit luxury sports car, a group of private investors. Sources close to the front, said the cost is approximately U.S. $ 925 million. Family of people said the agreement that the buyer is led by David Richards, an auto racing entrepreneur and founder of Prodrive Ltd. The latter also runs the Aston Martin Racing program. The sources added that Richards will be supported by Kuwait Investment Dar Co. Ford sold Aston Martin to raise funds to cover restructuring costs. And keep a small stake in the brand. When asked about the sale, a Ford spokesman declined to comment last Sunday. The automaker has acquired a controlling stake in Aston Martin in 1987. The remainder of the quota was bought in 1994. Last year, Ford posted the biggest loss in its annual report on the 103-year history, amounting to U.S. $ 12.7 million. In this regard, the automaker closed factories and cut thousands of jobs as part of restructuring plan. But the strategies are considered so that the automaker is willing to consider other options available, and one that is selling the Aston Martin brand. "It will give them a little capital 'needed to fund its restructuring," auto Brad Rubin, analyst at BNP Paribas said last Saturday that the sale of Aston Martin, "but it's really not that much money." The Aston Martin has done the same - known as Agent 007, also known as James Bond, has characterized and used vehicles of the brand in some of his films. The brand is part of Ford Premier Automotive Group, which includes Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo Cars. These brands are known for luxury, performance and security. Jaguar, to promote his design philosophy, introduced a new line to sweep the image of the box car. Land Rover, on the other hand, is improving its performance off road. Volvo has reached an ideal level in the safety car. Even a simple car part, like the Volvo distributor cap is designed with the highest bid security in mind. Among the units of the Premier Automotive Group, the largest contributor to the losses and Jaguar, with U.S. $ 327 million reported a drop in sales in 2006. The automaker typically does not disclose financial information on individual units of the Premier Automotive Group, however, the company said that Aston Martin is very profitable. Aston Martin, with headquarters in Gaydon, England, produces about 5,000 vehicles a year. Each machine costs over $ 100,000. Taking into account the standards set by Ford, Aston Martin is not sharing his technique and cars parts with the rest of the Ford brand. Even when the automaker strives to make its operations worldwide, the company is keeping with the philosophy and rules of Aston Martin. According to a presentation of managers, industry analysts said they would prefer that Ford sells Jaguar, which has lost more than 700 million USD last year. The report also predicted that the brand has lost U.S. $ 550 million this year and U.S. $ 300 million in 2008.