Founding Aston Martin was founded in 1913 by
Lionel Martin and
Robert Bamford. 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. 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. They acquired premises at Henniker Mews in
Kensington and produced their first car in March 1915. Production could not start because of the outbreak of the
First World War, when Martin joined the
Admiralty and Bamford joined the
Army Service Corps.
1918–1939: Interwar years 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
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. 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 got into financial difficulty again in 1925 and Martin was forced to sell the company (Bamford had already left it in 1920). 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. 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.
1947–1972: David Brown 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. He also acquired
Lagonda, without its factory, 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, 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.
1972–1975: William Willson 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. More detail on this period may be read at
Willson's biography. The
worldwide recession, lack of
working capital and the difficulties of developing an engine to meet
California's exhaust emission requirements – it stopped the company's US sales – again pulled Aston Martin into receivership at the end of 1974. The company had employed 460 workers when the manufacturing plant closed.
1975–1981: Sprague and Curtis The receiver sold the business in April 1975 for £1.05 million to North American businessman Peter Sprague of
National Semiconductor, Toronto hotelier George Minden, and Jeremy Turner, a London businessman, who insisted to reporters that 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. Six months later, in September 1975, the factory – shut down the previous December – re-opened under its new owner as Aston Martin Lagonda Limited with 100 employees, and planned to lift staff to 250 by the end of 1975. 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". The new owners pushed Aston Martin into modernising its line, introducing the
V8 Vantage in 1977, the convertible
Volante in 1978, and the one-off
Bulldog styled by
William Towns in 1980. Towns also styled the futuristic new
Lagonda saloon, based on the V8 model. Curtis, who had a 42% stake in Aston Martin, also brought about a change in direction from the usual customers who were Aston Martin fans, to successful young married businessmen. Prices had been increased by 25%. At the end of the 1970s, there was widespread debate about running MG into the Aston Martin consortium. 85 Conservative MPs formed themselves into a pressure group to get British Leyland to release their grip and hand it over. 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.
1981–1987: Victor 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. 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 the
Lagonda became the world's fastest four-seater production car, was able to sell the car in Oman, Kuwait, and Qatar. In 1982, Aston Martin was granted a
Royal Warrant of Appointment by the
Prince of Wales. In 1986, Gauntlett negotiated the return of the 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."
1987–2007: Ford Motor Company As Aston Martin needed funds to survive in the long term,
Ford bought a 75% stake in the company in 1987, and bought the rest later. In May of that year, Victor 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. 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 coupés at £86,000 each; Aston Martin finally retired the ancient V8 and introduced the
Virage range. Although Gauntlett was contractually to stay as chairman for two years, his racing interests took the company 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 Volante model, Ford provided the limited supply of
Cosworth engines to the
Jaguar cars racing team. As the entry-level
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. In 1992, the high-performance variant of the Virage called the
Vantage was announced, and the following year Aston Martin renewed the DB range by announcing the DB7. By 1993, Ford had fully acquired the company after having built a stake in 1987. Ford placed Aston Martin 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 to manufacture the DB7. In 1995, Aston Martin produced a record 700 cars. Until the Ford era, cars had been produced by hand coachbuilding craft methods, such as the
English wheel. During the mid-1990s, the Special Projects Group, a secretive unit with Works Service at Newport Pagnell, created an array of special coach-built vehicles for the Brunei royal family. In 1998, the 2,000th DB7 was built, and in 2002, the 6,000th, exceeding production of all of the previous DB series models. The DB7 range was revamped by the addition of more powerful
V12 Vantage models in 1999, and in 2001, Aston Martin introduced the V12-engined flagship model called the
Vanquish which succeeded the aging Virage (now called the V8 Coupé). At the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan in 2003, Aston Martin introduced the
V8 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. The facility is situated on a site of a former
RAF V Bomber airbase, with an front building for offices, meeting rooms and customer reception, and a production building. 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
Aston Martin Engine Plant (AMEP) within the
Ford Germany plant in
Niehl, Cologne. With the 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 was 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. This expanded engine capacity allowed the entry-level
V8 Vantage sports car to enter production at the Gaydon factory in 2006, 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.
2007–2018: Private limited company On 12 March 2007, a consortium led by
Prodrive chairman
David Richards purchased Aston Martin for £475 million (US$848 million). The group included American investment banker John Sinders and two Kuwaiti companies namely Investment Dar and
Adeem Investment. Prodrive had no financial involvement in the deal. Ford kept a stake in Aston Martin valued at £40 million (US$70 million). 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 from Tokyo to
Istanbul before joining the European motorway network for another to London. The promotion was so successful Aston Martin opened dealerships in Shanghai and Beijing within three months. 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 and became the home of the Aston Martin Works classic car department which focuses on heritage sales, service, spares and restoration operations. UK production was subsequently concentrated on the facility in
Gaydon on the former
RAF V Bomber airbase. 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." More dealers in Europe and the new pair in China brought the total to 120 in 28 countries. On 1 September 2008, Aston Martin announced the revival of the
Lagonda marque, proposing a concept car to be shown in 2009 to coincide with the brand's 100th anniversary. The first production cars were slated for production in 2012. In December 2008, Aston Martin announced it would cut its workforce from 1,850 to 1,250 due to the economic recession. The first four-door
Rapide grand tourers rolled out of the
Magna Steyr factory in
Graz, Austria, in 2010. The contract manufacturer provides dedicated facilities to ensure compliance with the exacting standards of Aston Martin and other marques, including
Mercedes-Benz. Then CEO of the company, Ulrich Bez had publicly speculated about outsourcing all of Aston Martin's operations with the exception of marketing. In September 2011, it was announced that production of the Rapide would be returned to Gaydon in the second half of 2012, restoring all of the company's automobile manufacture there. Italian private equity fund Investindustrial signed a deal on 6 December 2012 to buy a 37.5% stake in Aston Martin, investing £150 million as a capital increase. This was confirmed by Aston Martin in a press release on 7 December 2012. David Richards left Aston Martin in 2013, returning to concentrate on Prodrive. In April 2013, it was reported that Bez would be leaving his role as the chief executive officer to take up a more ambassadorial position. On 2 September 2014, Aston Martin announced it had appointed the
Nissan executive
Andy Palmer as the new CEO with 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 introducing concept cars like the DBX SUV along with track focused cars like the
Vulcan. 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. In preparation for its next-generation of sports cars, the company invested £20 million ($33.4 million) to expand its manufacturing plant in Gaydon. The expansion at the Gaydon plant includes a new chassis and pilot build facility, as well as an extension of the parts and logistics storage area, and new offices. In total, Aston Martin will add approximately to the plant. In 2014, Aston Martin suffered a pre-tax loss of £72 million, almost triple of the amount of 2013 selling 3,500 cars during the year, well below the 7,300 cars sold in 2007 and 4,200 sold in 2013 respectively. It was 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. In February 2016, the company selected a site in
St Athan,
South Wales for its new factory. The Welsh facility was unanimously chosen by Aston's board despite fierce competition from other locations as far afield as the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, as well as other sites in the UK believed to be
Bridgend,
Birmingham, and
Coventry. The facility featured three existing 'super-hangars' of
MOD St Athan. Construction work of converting the hangars commenced in April 2017. Aston Martin returned to profit in 2017 after selling over 5,000 cars. The company made a pre-tax profit of £87 million compared with a £163 million loss in 2016. 2017 also marked the return of production of the
Newport Pagnell facility ten years after it originally ceased.
2013–present: Partnership with Mercedes-Benz Group In December 2013, Aston Martin signed a deal with
Mercedes-Benz Group (at the time known as Daimler) to supply the next generation of Aston Martin cars with
Mercedes-AMG engines. 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 engines. In exchange, Mercedes will get as much as 5% equity in Aston Martin and a non-voting seat on its board. The first model to sport the Mercedes-Benz technology was the
DB11, announced at the 86th
Geneva Motor Show in March 2016. It featured Mercedes-Benz electronics for the entertainment, navigation and other systems. It was also the first model to use Mercedes-AMG V8 engines. In October 2020, Mercedes confirmed it will increase its holding "in stages" from 5% to 20%. In return, Aston Martin will have access to Mercedes-Benz hybrid and electric drivetrain technologies for its future models.
2018–present: Listed on the London Stock Exchange 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)," and now reporting a full-year pre-tax profit of £87 million (compared with a £163 million 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. In June 2019, the company opened its new factory in
St Athan for the production of its first-ever SUV the
DBX. The factory was finally completed and officially opened on 6 December 2019. When full production begins in the second quarter of 2020, around 600 people will be employed at the factory, rising to 750 when peak production is reached. On 31 January 2020 it was announced that Canadian billionaire and investor
Lawrence Stroll was leading a consortium, Yew Tree Overseas Limited, who will pay £182 million in return for 16.7% stake in the company. The re-structuring includes a £318 million cash infusion through a new rights issue, generating a total of £500 million for the company. Stroll will also be named as chairman, replacing
Penny Hughes. Swiss pharmaceutical magnate
Ernesto Bertarelli and
Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team principal and CEO
Toto Wolff have also joined the consortium, acquiring 3.4% and 4.8% stakes, respectively. In March 2020, Stroll increased his stake in the company to 25%. On 26 May 2020, Aston Martin announced that Andy Palmer had stepped down as CEO.
Tobias Moers of
Mercedes-AMG will succeed him starting 1 August, with Keith Stanton as interim chief operating officer. In June 2020, the company announced that it cut out 500 jobs as a result of the poor sales, an outcome of the
COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. In March 2021, executive chairman Lawrence Stroll stated that the company plans on building
electric vehicles by 2025. In May 2022, Aston Martin named 76-year-old
Amedeo Felisa as the new chief executive officer, replacing Tobias Moers. Roberto Fedeli was also announced as the new chief technical officer. In late 2020, Aston Martin was involved in a controversy in which it was accused of using a report to spread disputed information about
electric vehicles in the wake of the UK's declaration to end the sale of
combustion engine vehicles by 2030, with some in the media dubbing the controversy as "
Astongate". In November 2020, a communications agency called Clarendon Communications published a report comparing the environmental impact of various powertrain options for cars. After the report received coverage from
The Sunday Times and other publications, it emerged that the company had been set up in February that year and was registered under the name of Rebecca Stephens – the wife of James Stephens, who is the government affairs director of Aston Martin Lagonda. Citing a study by
Polestar, the report stated that electric vehicles would need to be driven before they would have lower overall emissions than a petrol car. This statement was disputed by electric vehicle researcher Auke Hoekstra, who argued that the report underestimated the emissions from combustion engine vehicles and did not consider the emissions from creating petrol. According to him, a typical EV would need to drive 16,000–18,000 miles (25,700–30,000 km) to offset the emissions from manufacture.
Bosch and a number of other companies were also involved with the report. In July 2022,
Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) will take a stake in the company through a £78 million equity placing as well as a £575 million separate rights issue, giving it two board seats in the company. After the rights issue, the Saudi fund will have a 16.7% stake in Aston Martin, behind the 18.3% holding by Stroll's Yew Tree consortium while the Mercedes-Benz Group will own 9.7%. In September 2022, Chinese automaker
Geely acquired a 7.6% stake in the company. In December 2022, Stroll and the Yew Tree consortium increased their stake in the company to 28.29%. In May 2023, Geely increased its stake to 17%, becoming the third-largest shareholder after the Yew Tree consortium and the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund. In June 2023, Aston Martin signed an agreement with
Lucid Motors after selecting it to help supply electric motors, powertrains, and battery systems for its upcoming range of fully electric cars. In return, Aston Martin will make cash payments and issue a 3.7percent stake in its company to Lucid, worth $232million in total. In September 2023, the Yew Tree consortium increased their stake by 3.27% to 26.23%. In October 2023, Aston Martin announced that it would compete in the
FIA World Endurance Championship and
IMSA SportsCar Championship in 2025. In April 2024, the company said it would push back production of its first
electric vehicle to 2027. In March 2024, Aston Martin announced Adrian Hallmark as its new CEO beginning 1 October 2024, replacing Amedeo Felisa. In September 2024, Aston Martin issued a profit warning, saying it had been hit by a fall in demand in China. In November 2024, Aston Martin issued another warning following a minor delay in the deliveries of their Valiant model. In response, they said they would issue new shares and debt totalling £210 million. In February 2025, CEO Adrian Hallmark announced the company would again push back production of its first electric vehicle to 2030. On 31 March 2025, the Yew Tree Consortium is set to inject an additional £52.5 million into the marque by purchasing 75 million shares at 70 pence per share, increasing its stake to 33%. The company will also sell shares in the Formula One racing team that it sponsors. In total, the two transactions will raise £125 million. On 20 February 2026, Aston Martin announced it will sell the rights to use its name on the Aston Martin F1 Team for £50 million to bolster its finances due to facing tariff pressures and weak demand in North America and China.
Sales at auction In August 2017, a 1956
Aston Martin DBR1/1 sold at a
Sotheby's auction at the
Pebble Beach, California Concours d'Elegance for US$22,550,000, which made it the most expensive British car ever sold at an auction, according to Sotheby's. The car had previously been driven by
Carroll Shelby and
Stirling Moss. Other notable cars include a 1962
Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato for US$14,300,000 in New York, and a 1963
Aston Martin DP215 for US$21,455,000 in August 2018. == Models ==