Aston Martin Lagonda in North America
11 January 2000
Aston Martin Lagonda in North America DETROIT, Jan. 10 -- Aston Martin dates back to 1913 when
Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford, who were Singer dealers in London, decided
to build their own car. They mounted a 1.4 litre four-cylinder Coventry
Simplex engine in a chassis of their own design and called it Aston Martin.
The derivation of the name stems from Martin in Lionel Martin and the Aston
Hillclimb in Hertfordshire where Martin had competed with distinction.
The intervention of World War I ensured that the first Aston Martin was
not completed until 1915. The first cars offered to customers did not appear
until 1923 when Count Louis Zborowski of Chitty Bang Bang fame agreed to
finance the company. Aston Martin changed hands several times between the
wars passing from one enthusiastic, but financially struggling, owner to
another.
In 1947, Aston Martin was offered to David Brown (later Sir David) who
shortly after acquiring the company also purchased Lagonda. In 1950 the Aston
Martin DB2 powered by a Lagonda design engine was equal first in the Index of
Performance and the winner of the 3.0 litre class in Le Mans 24 hours race for
sports cars.
In 1959, both competition and sales success followed when the Aston Martin
DBR1 won the Le Mans 24-hour race as well as the Sports Car Constructors
Championship -- The World Championship.
During this time a series of DB models were introduced culminating in the
DB6. However in 1972, David Brown offered the company for sale. Even though
the company passed through several different hands in the following 15 years,
a series of new, successful products were developed including the radical
wedge-shape William Towns-designed Lagonda with its advanced electronic
systems.
In 1987, Ford Motor Company purchased 75 per cent of Aston
Martin Lagonda and the remaining shares in July 1994. Since March 1999 Aston
Martin has been a member of the Premier Automotive Group. In addition to
providing financial security Ford and the Premier Automotive Group enable
Aston Martin to gain access to worldwide technical, manufacturing and supply
systems for the design and development of new products.
The company remains small with fewer than 600 employees and manufacturing
centres at Newport Pagnell in Buckinghamshire and Bloxham in Oxfordshire.
Manufacture of the 550 horsepower twin supercharged Vantage and the 350
horsepower Volante and V8 Coupe models is completed at Newport Pagnell while
the Bloxham facility is dedicated solely to the Aston Martin DB7 and the DB7
Vantage models.
Introduced at the Geneva International Auto Show in March 1993, when it
was named Car of the Show, the Aston Martin DB7 is powered by a 335 horsepower
supercharged 3.2 litre in-line six cylinder engine, while the latest Vantage
model of the DB7 is powered by Aston Martin's first ever 12 cylinder engine a
6.0 litre 420 horsepower V12 unit. Both models take full advantage of modern
materials and technology and reflect the classic lines of previous DB models.
Aston Martin's Customer Service Division, also located at Newport Pagnell,
holds the most comprehensive stock of spares for the majority of Aston Martin
and Lagonda models. Within its "Works Prepared" programme the Service and
Restoration Division undertakes routine service, chassis, engine and body work
conversions, and the complete restoration of historic models -- emphasising
the "Car for Life" concept which is now the hallmark of Aston Martin and
Lagonda products.
The first Aston Martin ever to be sold to a customer in the United States
was delivered to its new owner in July 1950 while the first Lagonda was
delivered in February 1950. It was the second Aston Martin DB2 to be
produced. Such was the popularity of the DB2 with customers in North America
that 23 of the first 100 DB2s to be manufactured were delivered to owners in
the USA.
Increasing popularity of the marque led to the establishment of Aston
Martin Lagonda North America Inc. in March 1964 and the opening of a showroom
in New York by Sir David Brown on December 2, 1969.
The sale of both Aston Martin and Lagonda products to customers in the
United States and Canada has always played a major role in the success of the
company. Since that first DB2 and Lagonda in 1950 more than 2000 Aston
Martins and Lagondas have been sold in North America.
The unique relationship which Aston Martin Lagonda enjoys with the Aston
Martin Owners Club in Britain is mirrored in the United States. Such has been
the success of the Aston Martin marque in North America that the AMOC has both
East and West Coast sections catering for more than 400 members. The majority
of these members attended the 1997 Pebble Beach Concours with members from
both Europe and Asia Pacific when Aston Martin was the featured "Post War"
marque. Customers in the United States and Canada currently purchase more
than 30% of all DB7 models.
