• Aston Martin is a modern, exclusive sports car brand with a unique heritage instantly recognised around the world. Distinctively fusing the latest technology, time-honoured craftsmanship and graceful styling to produce a range of critically acclaimed performance sports cars that have elevated the company to a position as one of the world’s coolest brands.
• The company’s roots can be traced back to 1913 and founders Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. In the 99 years since, the brand has progressed to be globally recognised as one of the most iconic names in motoring.
• Around 85% of all Aston Martins ever produced are still on the road and the company has built around 57,000 cars in its history.
• The company has been independently owned for five years by a consortium of two major international investment houses; Investment Dar & Adeem Investment based in Kuwait. The Aston Martin business is led by Chief Executive, Dr Ulrich Bez.
• Aston Martin’s global headquarters in Gaydon, Warwickshire manufactures the award-winning DBS, Virage, DB9 and Vantage model lines as well as the One-77 supercar and Cygnet luxury city car which are all built in the state-of-the-art production facilities combining hi-tech manufacturing processes with traditional hand-craftsmanship.
• Aston Martin’s ‘VH’ is not a chassis or just a platform; it is a philosophy. VH was designed to provide Aston Martin with a philosophy on which all Aston Martins could be based. It constantly evolves and remains at the forefront of technology – developed and improved with every new Aston Martin.
• Aston Martin has the strongest product line-up in its 99-year history – One-77; the fastest and most advanced road car ever built by the company – Aston Martin’s definitive sports car, DBS Coupe, DBS Volante, Rapide, V12 Vantage, DB9 Coupe, DB9 Volante, V8 Vantage Coupe, V8 Vantage Roadster – award-winning and critically acclaimed. 2011 saw the introduction of the new Virage, Vantage S, the Tailor-Fit city car; Cygnet and the V12 Zagato.
• Aston Martin maintains a global network of 139 dealerships in 42 countries. Ongoing expansion plans have seen it recently enter into India, South America, Taiwan, Turkey and Ukraine while significantly expanding its presence in China. Future plans include expansion whilst seeking continued growth in emerging markets including Asia and the Middle East.
People
• Dr Ulrich Bez, Aston Martin’s Chief Executive, joined the company in 2000 ushering in the modern era and overseeing its evolution from a low volume, small scale operation to a profitable business and a world-renowned manufacturer of elegant, high performance road and racing cars.
• Dr Bez has led the reinvigoration of the marque, securing investment and with new facilities including a new global headquarters, Aston Martin’s first ever dedicated Design Studio, 143 dealers worldwide, new corporate identity, a return to competitive motorsport and the introduction of more than 20 new models.
• Aston Martin employs approximately 1,500 people globally. The manufacturing operation is founded on highly skilled, passionate and flexible employees with skills that are transferable from model line to model line.
Motorsport
• Built on a heritage of GT racing and culminating in an historic victory in the 1959 Le Mans 24 Hours with the DBR1, Aston Martin returned to competitive motor sport in 2004. The company’s product range forms the basis of its race cars.
• Aston Martin Racing is a motorsport partnership between Aston Martin and Prodrive – since 2005 AMR has built and delivered more than 100 race cars from GT4 to LMP1 to customers around the world.
• Aston Martin annually uses the Nürburgring 24-hour race as the ultimate engineering sign-off test for its road cars. In 2009 the V12 Vantage claimed a class victory – on its race debut – and the Vantage N24 also scored class victories in 2007, 2008 & 2009. In 2010 the company entered a four-door Rapide and V12 Vantage with aerodynamic enhancements. The cars took 2nd & 3rd in the SP8 class amongst a field of largely motorsport homologated cars.
• In 2012, Aston Martin Racing will return to what it does best; GT racing. The team will contest the new-for-2012 FIA World Endurance Championship, which is certain to become international motorsport’s highest level of sports car competition.
• In 2012, Aston Martin Racing is contesting the GTE category with a heavily updated version of the existing Vantage GT2. Based on the V8 Vantage road car, the Vantage GTE made its competitive debut at round one of the World Endurance Championship at the 12 Hours of Sebring, Florida, in March. Before competing in two rounds of the American Le Mans Series as part of its one-car World Endurance Championship campaign. The driver line-up is confirmed as Darren Turner, Stefan Mucke and Adrian Fernandez.
Miscellaneous
• Aston Martin has created some of the world’s most iconic cars including the DB4 GT Zagato and the DB5 famously driven by James Bond in Goldfinger.
• James Bond will be driving an Aston Martin for the 11th occasion as he takes to the wheel of the iconic DB5 in the upcoming film, Skyfall, due for release on 9 November 2012.
• In 2011 the Aston Martin DB6 achieved global recognition after being driven by HRH Prince William in his wedding with Kate Middleton. This particular DB6 – a MKII Volante – is owned by HRH Prince of Wales who received it as a 21st birthday present (from his parents) and has since been converted by Aston Martin Works to run on bio ethanol.
• ‘Q by Aston Martin’ is the ultimate personalisation design service to help customers with the design, craft and hand-finishing of their car to their precise requirements.
• Based at Gaydon, a team has been formed to manage the design and delivery of the ‘Q by Aston Martin’ one-off customer requests.
• ‘Q by Aston Martin’ can help to design and procure luxury items relating to customers’ cars, for example a specific colour matched to the car. This could extend as far as helping the customer’s architect to design their house or the interior specification of a yacht.