UNDERSTANDING ASTON MARTIN
Its with great sadness that I have read that Aston Martin plans to install AMG engines into their cars in the future, no doubt a financial decision made by the bean counters of its co owner's who have no idea about the ethos of Aston Martin or what it stands for. I fear that the same fate awaits Aston Martin as what has happened to Bentley and Rolls Royce, although both of those brands are technically brilliant their styling is questionable retro in the same vein as the failed S Type Jaguar, I do appreciate that todays legislation prevents many pleasing features from cars of the past being used but the current slippery over sized styling of these brands is only matched by the premiership footballers watch that tend to be driving them..... What the current owners fail to understand is that Aston Martin like many other small British manufacturers very much do their own thing which doesn't always make financial sense ( Like making their own engines...) Often driven by the owners desire (whoever that would be at the time) to create his own idea of automotive perfection, but with relatively tight development budgets, small sales numbers coupled with high production costs would eventually lead into financial difficulties and Aston would have to be sold on (again)....The by product of this formula has led to the creation of some of the most iconic cars in the world, as quintessentially British as the secret agent who uses it. Now can you imagine Porsche installing a Chevy V8 into the Cayenne?? Its cheap and powerful so why not? Or why doesn't Ferrari ask Mclaren if it can buy quantities of the P1 suspension system? I know its lighter than their current set up.....Or why doesn't Bond ask the Chinese if they have any work for a secret agent I'm sure they would pay more!...... and thats why (no matter how good or cheap it is) a beating German heart should not be installed into a British icon otherwise you just end with just another euro performance box......
**Opinions expressed on this website are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the opinions of Cotswold Classic Car Restorations Ltd.
