Aston attack

John Mellor's
From left: DB9, Vanquish S,
DB9 Volante and V8 Vantage
Continued from previous page
“You’ll also notice the lead buyer of Aston
Martin is David Richards and, as you know,
we have a relationship with him through his
company Prodrive, which we’re JV (joint
venture) partners in FPV here in Australia.
Prodrive owns FPV, too, so it’s not as if it’s
going to someone we don’t know and who
doesn’t know Ford, so I think those are the
good points about it.
“From a business standpoint, what our new
CEO (Alan Mulally) is doing is the right thing.
That is we have to focus our management,
talent and resource energies on where it needs
David Richards (left)
and Ulrich Bez
GoAutonews
Aston attack
Proven to reduce business costs.
Call us and we’ll explain exactly how.
to be focused and that is the Ford brand and
primarily at the moment in North America.
“What I think Alan Mulally is doing is
reducing the distraction, strengthening our
balance sheet and allowing us to attack our
core problems.”
On the retail front, Dr Bez said that standalone
dealerships such as the fi ve Aston Martinappointed
outlets in Australia underlined
the company’s independence from Ford. It
currently has a “fast-expanding” retail network
of 126 dealers across 27 countries.
“Our dealer network in the world is an
independent dealer network,” Dr Bez said.
“And it is to be more independent in
the future … We don’t need anybody.
“So I am very confi dent that this is
the right move, and I am very sure that
we will be seen in fi ve years with the
success that we will have as a leader in
the development in the car business.
“I do believe that small is not
only beautiful – small can be very
successful and very profi table and this
is what I think Aston Martin will be in
the future.
“We will be small, we will be a very
exclusive, prestigious brand and we
will be profi table.”
Substantially.
www.mellor.net
A PRIL 4, 2007 Page 2
Aston Martin’s Asia Pacifi c regional
manager Henning Rosted has also reiterated
to GoAuto since the sale announcement last
month that the change in ownership will not
alter its operations in Australia.
“There are really no, or very few, changes
to the business in Australia and New Zealand,”
he told GoAuto. “We have dealers appointed
by Aston Martin and they will remain Aston
Martin dealers. There will be no change
whatsoever in our operations.”
Mr Rosted denied Aston Martin’s expanded
association with Prodrive made it logical for
the brand to enter Formula One under Mr
Richards’ stewardship, following the sale of
Ford-owned Jaguar’s F1 team to Red Bull. He
said Aston Martin would remain involved in
international GT sportscar racing via Prodrive.
“I’m not qualifi ed to comment on Prodrive
or F1 … (but) we are committed to sportscars
with Prodrive. I wouldn’t expect there would
be any connection there. Our commitment lies
in GT, in which we’re very successful.”
As reported last month, Ford agreed to sell
Aston Martin to the Richards-led consortium
for $US925 million. The investors include two
Kuwait-based Islamic investment companies
Adeem Investment and Investment Dar.
Aston SUV snub – next page
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