Che'_Moderator Posted March 8, 2007 Report Share Posted March 8, 2007 There are a lot of rumors churning that Aston Martin may be sold any day now. What do you think? Is the marque worth the 9 figures it will demand? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spoony Posted March 8, 2007 Report Share Posted March 8, 2007 Personally I don't care about the aston martins. Even if I could afford one, it's not even on my list of cars I'd like to own.But, I would like to see Volvo going to somebody else. I'd like to see if another company can do better then ford. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zappo Posted March 8, 2007 Report Share Posted March 8, 2007 But, I would like to see Volvo going to somebody else. I'd like to see if another company can do better then ford.The question wasn't if YOU think Ford should sell Volvo. It would be in Ford's interest to keep Volvo because the profit potential is there.Selling Aston Martin is just a way to get badly needed cash to deal with their debt. Low volume companies like that are never going to bring in the big money Ford needs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACBarnett Posted March 9, 2007 Report Share Posted March 9, 2007 aston-martin's problem is that it's TOO low volume even though the profit margins are good. The only way it could have been profitable would have been through downmarket models (and I don't mean the "merely" $90k DBS) like what porsche did with the 944 and the boxster, as well as a high-profit "must-have" badge-engineered car like the cayenne. Ford could have done it, but it would have diluted the brand in a big way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt b Posted March 9, 2007 Report Share Posted March 9, 2007 aston-martin's problem is that it's TOO low volume even though the profit margins are good. The only way it could have been profitable would have been through downmarket models (and I don't mean the "merely" $90k DBS) like what porsche did with the 944 and the boxster, as well as a high-profit "must-have" badge-engineered car like the cayenne. Ford could have done it, but it would have diluted the brand in a big way.Or through manufacturing and selling of specific parts such as power train and chassis parts to other companies. Volvo should go to a European car maker, just not Fiat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrLorence Posted March 9, 2007 Report Share Posted March 9, 2007 Aston Martin's demand isn't high enough to be valuable to any company, but when they do sell a car they make out like bandits..Also where would you get the damn thing serviced? On top of that any company that would buy them would have to have their employees trained in the maintaince and service of the vehicles(costing them more money) plus have an inventory of parts and special machines (again MORE money)...If you ask me they need to just downsize and build everything on demand, have no cars "on the lot" so to speak if they aren't doing this already..I just caught this on Wiki:In light of mounting financial pressure, and after internal review of costs and value, Ford decided to look at selling parts of its Premium Automotive Group. After suggestions of selling Jaguar Cars, Land Rover or Volvo Cars, Ford appointed UBS AG to sell Aston Martin by auction. At the end of August 2006, Ford announced that it would be willing to sell all or part of Aston Martin. Bill Ford said: "As part of our on going strategic review, we have determined that Aston Martin may be an attractive opportunity to raise capital and generate value".[4]Auto Express reported that Ford hopes to achieve £600m from the sale. The Financial Times reported on 1 September 2006 that Ford wanted $2 billion.They need to ditch the other brands they own that aren't in high demand as well, like Jag and Land Rover...might bail Ford out..But just as a recap, I think they need to be sold.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T-5Bandit Posted March 9, 2007 Report Share Posted March 9, 2007 Aston Martin's demand isn't high enough to be valuable to any company, but when they do sell a car they make out like bandits..Also where would you get the damn thing serviced? On top of that any company that would buy them would have to have their employees trained in the maintaince and service of the vehicles(costing them more money) plus have an inventory of parts and special machines (again MORE money)..You get them serviced at the dealer, there are plenty of them available in the US.Any company buying them is going to retain all the assests and rights to Aston Martion at the corporate level. At the service/dealership level, most dealerships are franchised owned and would just be reporting to a different corporate owner. The impact would be minimal at the dealership level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrLorence Posted March 9, 2007 Report Share Posted March 9, 2007 You get them serviced at the dealer, there are plenty of them available in the US.Any company buying them is going to retain all the assets and rights to Aston Martin at the corporate level. At the service/dealership level, most dealerships are franchised owned and would just be reporting to a different corporate owner. The impact would be minimal at the dealership level.I guess I was looking at it percentage wise, think of it as a pie..What slice owns Aston martins?Say the population that owned them, was only concentrated to the larger cities..then would the smaller suburban shops have to get their guys trained (costs $) and buy machines ($$) and parts ($$)..you see what I'm saying...the bad outweighs the good.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Big Tuna Posted March 9, 2007 Report Share Posted March 9, 2007 well it looks like Prodrive (the subaru rally team, and AM racing team) is going to buy AM for 500m euros, and as stated before Ford was hoping for 600m. annd if the statement above is true that they were trying to sell it for 2billion, wow thats a little bit of a cut i think that this is a good thing for AM, hopefully they can get a company to run them to actually make them dependable cars...it for sure sucks for Ford (other than decreasing thier dept) i think that its just a sign of whats to come for american car makers in the following years, lets just face it, the US can not built a car anymore worth a damn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt1122 Posted March 9, 2007 Report Share Posted March 9, 2007 Will Aston Martin be sold - maybe not today or tomorrow, but ford has been posting such great losses... I suspect AM will be sold sometime in the very near future, even if the current bids aren't enough to make it happen.As for Ford selling Volvo - Volvo is a great asset to ford. Not because of profitability so much, but more because of the R&D and technology that Volvo has made available to ford. Look at how many of Ford's cars that are on the market today are based upon the P1 or P2 platform and how they are rated within their class compared to their predecessors. Ford should not sell Volvo, but Ford should consider pushing Volvo's quality back up to what it used to be, or perhaps even higher. We'll have to wait and see how the new generation S80 and V70 models hold up to see if this is going to happen or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACBarnett Posted March 10, 2007 Report Share Posted March 10, 2007 I'd like to see volvo truck take a second try at volvo cars, or at least buy a 50% stake in it or something of that nature. Jaguar I could see getting sold to renault, ghosn has a way with turnarounds and renault needs a european-market premium car company since infiniti's aren't sold outside japan and the US and renault is too mass-market of a company. That's cool though that Prodrive is buying AM, maybe they can pick up TVR while they're at it and wrestle the MG name away from the chinese as well.Ideally I'd like to see saab go to renault, renault seems like they would respect and promote the brand, and they are both companies with a big emphasis on innovation and out-of-left-field designs. A PSA buyout of saab would also be good, especially if it meant a saab rally team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackBeast Posted March 11, 2007 Report Share Posted March 11, 2007 Volvo should go to a European car maker, just not Fiat.Fiat group dont have enough cash to buy Volvo, plus reliability and that quality associated with Volvo will decrease drastically. Anyone remember what happened when Fiat bought Lancia, Lancia was known for durable bodies, Fiat decieded to save money and use substandard metal, result was, rust of course.Only company id like to see buy Volvo would either be VAG or BMW, and we know that isnt going to happen. Is there any chance of Volvo buying themselves back? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
POOKDIZZLE Posted March 12, 2007 Report Share Posted March 12, 2007 :lol: They sold some of their stake. Aston Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest_Christian_* Posted March 13, 2007 Report Share Posted March 13, 2007 Aston martin should be sold. Ford did its part and bought out Jag and aston. Now its time to tkae what astons' learned and go solo. Volvo is doing ALOT better with Ford than they did alone. Now that volvo is with Ford, they have more design profiles that they can look at and they can expand their horizon as they have with the amazing new S80. Plus, its good that Ford is using Volvos safety rep top boost their safety points in all their cars. Anyway, aston should go solo. As should all european cars that are bought out by american companies, after, of course, they learn new things, and expand...everything Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Che'_Moderator Posted March 13, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 13, 2007 Aston martin should be sold. Ford did its part and bought out Jag and aston. Now its time to tkae what astons' learned and go solo. Volvo is doing ALOT better with Ford than they did alone. Now that volvo is with Ford, they have more design profiles that they can look at and they can expand their horizon as they have with the amazing new S80. Plus, its good that Ford is using Volvos safety rep top boost their safety points in all their cars. Anyway, aston should go solo. As should all european cars that are bought out by american companies, after, of course, they learn new things, and expand...everythingToo bad the new s80 is a pile of crap priced in the same range as Lexus, BMW, Audi, and other much nicer cars Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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