Aston Martin Lagonda Limited is a British manufacturer of luxury performance cars,
whose headquarters are at Gaydon, Warwickshire, England. The company name is
derived from the Aston Clinton hill climb and one of the company's founders, Lionel
Martin.
From 1994 until 2007 Aston Martin was part of the Premier
Automotive Group, a division of the Ford Motor Company. On 12 March 2007, it
was purchased for £479 million (US$848 million) by two Kuwaiti investment companies
in a deal led by David Richards of Prodrive. Ford retained a US$77 million
stake in Aston Martin, setting the total value of the company at US$925 million.
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 Place 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. |
