The New Aston Martin Owners Will Be Indian or Italian
This is the weekend – if the predictions of Reuters prove correct – when British sports car maker Aston Martin will get a new owner – yet again. An Italian private equity fund and an Indian company known for its off-road vehicles compete for the business.
According to Reuters, Italian private equity fund Investindustrial and India’s Mahindra & Mahindra have made competing bids for 50 percent of Aston Martin. A decision is expected over the weekend.
The current owner is the Kuwaiti investment house Dar. Two Kuwaiti investment companies, Investment Dar and Adeem Investment Co. had supplied the money, and the British engineering group Prodrive supplied the expertise when Ford wanted to unload Aston Martin, which it had owned since 1991.
Before Ford, Aston Martin had gone through a series of bankruptcies and different owners. All eventually found out that building supercars without the backing of a huge company is a losing proposition, and that recessions can be murder if expensive cars is all you have.
Investitudinal owned motorcycle maker Ducati before selling it to Volkswagen. The company allegedly has reached a technical partnership deal with Daimler AG’s Mercedes.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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And the erosion of the West continues, doesn't anyone care?
Are there any more British-owned auto manufacturers left? The same could happen here.