Aston Martin might be bought by South Korean company

[Abdul]

Mike Rutherford's column
Ford selling off Aston Martin isn't a bad thing and the smart money's on a South Korean buyer...
By Mike Rutherford 13th September 2006


There are many reasons why I haven't written about Ford's alleged desire to get shot of its struggling Jaguar division. But my main excuse is this: among the 300,000 employees at the US-based corporation, I have access to a well informed insider. And he (or is it a she - I'm not saying!) told me weeks ago I'd be barking up the wrong tree if I got sucked into the 'Is Jag For Sale?' debate.
I’m not sure if Aston’s posh HQ is really worth £1billion – but it wouldn’t be a bad thing if the firm leaves Ford



"Think laterally," my mole whispered. "Are you saying it's Land Rover that's up for grabs?" I asked. "Closer, but you're still taking a too blinkered view," was my informant's last word on the subject in late August.

I considered every permutation - from a Jag/Land Rover package, to one or either brand being franchised out to a cost-efficient specialist. After all, while Ford - which has just appointed a new chief executive, Alan Mulally - likes the lucrative business of vehicle design, engineering, parts supply and commercial rights, it's less keen on the tiresome chore of running production lines and employing armies of workers to man them.

Many of these people have been forced out recently, and there are even reports that thousands more are being offered generous pay-offs to walk away. But for starters at least, Ford has shocked everyone by announcing that it will be selling off its 'lateral' company, Aston Martin, lock, stock and barrel.

Makes sense when you think about it, doesn't it? Whether Aston's posh production and administrative centre at Gaydon, Warwickshire, is worth the asking price of around £1billion, I'm not sure. But I am convinced it won't be a bad thing for the marque to leave Ford, which is losing big money at the minute.

Even if an overseas buyer comes in, so what? Outside the US, Ford is a foreign company. It's not as if we're talking about a British-owned sports car firm being snapped up by a predator from another nation (as with BMW grabbing MG/Rover/Land Rover/MINI). No, this is more a case of a true Brit but foreign-owned firm being bought up by another corporation from overseas. Nothing wrong with that.

Talking of foreigners, Aston chief Dr Ulrich Bez did more than anybody to take the brand from nothing to where it is today - a painful thorn in Ferrari's side. And thanks to his contacts in Germany, the US and South Korea, he'll have no trouble finding somebody to take Aston off Ford's tired hands. Maybe it will be a former employer, Porsche or BMW. Or Jac Nasser, Ford of America's ex-chief. Or possibly Martin Leach, previously top man at Ford of Europe and now working with wealthy Russians. They can all afford the asking price. Maybe the doctor can raise the money himself, and become owner as well as chief exec?

Yet the dark horses in all this are the South Koreans - and in particular, the ambitious, cash-rich Hyundai Group. As my fellow columnist Ray Massey explained (Opinions, Issue 926), Hyundai admits the only way it can muscle in on the prestigious sports car market is to buy an established Western preferably one with a successful motorsport heritage. But Jaguar, with its Mondeo-based X-Type and high-profile F1 failure, isn't quite upmarket enough. Aston Martin is. And the brand's success in the Le Mans 24 Hours is a bonus.

What's more, Dr Bez, his wife and kids speak Korean. If the Malaysians can buy Lotus, the Chinese can take away MG Rover, the Germans can end up with Rolls-Royce plus Bentley and the Russians can snatch TVR, don't be surprised if it's the South Koreans who capture Aston Martin.



source : www.autoexpress.co.uk

[sakin_uttara]

Thats an interesting find. But is Aston is up for sale???

[arnab]

oh no!!!!!!

[Abdul]

Because like Fiat did by selling Ferrari , Ford wants that ASTOn MARTIN will be out of the financial troubles of FORD GROUP.
I know also that Hyundai might buy Jaguar according English car magazine .

[GTI VR6]

hope they take care of it. Lamborghini was bought by an Indonesian (or Malaysian) company and they made terrible Diablos during that time.

[Abdul]

here is an article explaining more about the owner of Lamborghini and Vector




Toy or Supercar for Asia?

By Jacques Neher International Herald Tribune

Wednesday, February 9, 1994


Is the purchase of Italy's Lamborghini a $40 million toy for the son of Indonesia's President Suharto and his friends or rather the core of a Malaysian-Indonesian joint venture to create a local automotive industry?
.
Western analysts said the former appeared the better explanation for the just-completed sale by Chrysler Corp. of Automobili Lamborghini SpA, the famed maker of expensive sports cars, to Megatech Ltd.
.
Megatech is a Bermuda-registered company jointly owned by Hutomo (Tommy) Mandala Putra, the youngest son of President Suharto, and Mycom Setdco, a Bermuda-based subsidiary of Mycom Bhd., the Malaysian property and gaming concern.
.
In a filing with the Kuala Lumpur stock exchange Tuesday, Mycom said it had agreed to sell half of Mycom Setdco to Setiawan Djody, an Indonesian businessman and the principal owner of the Setdco Group of Indonesia.
.
It said Mycom would have a 25 percent stake in Mycom Setdco, with the remaining 25 percent going to Koperasi Polis DiRaja, a Malaysian police investment fund.
.
The Mycom chairman, Yap yong Seong, was a police intelligence operative during anti- Communist operations in Malaysia. The police investment fund has helped finance his various business ventures since the 1970s, he once said.
.
"The joint venture with the Setdco Group of Indonesia is expected to present the Mycom Group an opportunity to extend and diversify its business activities to Indonesia," Mycom said.
.
"Besides, Megatech also intends to to use the engine technology of Lamborghini to develop commercial vehicles in Indonesia," it said.
.
But Western automotive analysts raised their eyebrows at this claim, noting that much more investment would be required to adapt Lamborghini's high-performance engine technology to every-day requirements of a volume vehicle producer.
.
"It's plausible, but you have to ask whether this is the most cost- efficient way to start an industry," said Louis Bailoni, luxury-car analyst with DRI Automotive Group in Britain. "It would make a lot more sense to just go out and buy the engines you want for your cars."
.
Another London auto analyst, asking not to be named, said that buying Lamborghini in order to launch a local car industry was "ludicrous" and "a very strange way of doing it."
.
Even Lamborghini's top executive said there was little the Italian company could bring to a volume car producer, outside of some research and development assistance. "We're a small company that produces a small number of high-performance cars," said Gianfranco Venturelli, general manager. "Making cars in mass production is a different culture."
.
A more plausible explanation for the purchase, estimated to run the Southeast Asian investors between $35 million and $45 million, was suggested by the seller.
.
Tony Cervone, spokesman for Chrysler, said Lamborghini and its engineering department would aid the buyers in their interest in expanding into Formula 1 racing and developing technology for so-called supercars, expensive high-performance racing cars sold for road use.
.
Mr. Suharto and Mr. Djody, through their Bermuda companies, have invested $7.6 million over the past 18 months to take a 57 percent stake in Vector Aeromotive, a small Wilmington, California, company that next year hopes to begin selling its $190,000 Avtech SC Super Coupe.
.
"They have no development skills," Mr. Cervone said of Vector. "With Lamborghini, they'll be getting a huge set of brains." Is the purchase of Italy's Lamborghini a $40 million toy for the son of Indonesia's President Suharto and his friends or rather the core of a Malaysian-Indonesian joint venture to create a local automotive industry?
.
Western analysts said the former appeared the better explanation for the just-completed sale by Chrysler Corp. of Automobili Lamborghini SpA, the famed maker of expensive sports cars, to Megatech Ltd.
.
Megatech is a Bermuda-registered company jointly owned by Hutomo (Tommy) Mandala Putra, the youngest son of President Suharto, and Mycom Setdco, a Bermuda-based subsidiary of Mycom Bhd., the Malaysian property and gaming concern.
.
In a filing with the Kuala Lumpur stock exchange Tuesday, Mycom said it had agreed to sell half of Mycom Setdco to Setiawan Djody, an Indonesian businessman and the principal owner of the Setdco Group of Indonesia.
.
It said Mycom would have a 25 percent stake in Mycom Setdco, with the remaining 25 percent going to Koperasi Polis DiRaja, a Malaysian police investment fund.
.
The Mycom chairman, Yap yong Seong, was a police intelligence operative during anti- Communist operations in Malaysia. The police investment fund has helped finance his various business ventures since the 1970s, he once said.
.
"The joint venture with the Setdco Group of Indonesia is expected to present the Mycom Group an opportunity to extend and diversify its business activities to Indonesia," Mycom said.
.
"Besides, Megatech also intends to to use the engine technology of Lamborghini to develop commercial vehicles in Indonesia," it said.
.
But Western automotive analysts raised their eyebrows at this claim, noting that much more investment would be required to adapt Lamborghini's high-performance engine technology to every-day requirements of a volume vehicle producer.
.
"It's plausible, but you have to ask whether this is the most cost- efficient way to start an industry," said Louis Bailoni, luxury-car analyst with DRI Automotive Group in Britain. "It would make a lot more sense to just go out and buy the engines you want for your cars."
.
Another London auto analyst, asking not to be named, said that buying Lamborghini in order to launch a local car industry was "ludicrous" and "a very strange way of doing it."
.
Even Lamborghini's top executive said there was little the Italian company could bring to a volume car producer, outside of some research and development assistance. "We're a small company that produces a small number of high-performance cars," said Gianfranco Venturelli, general manager. "Making cars in mass production is a different culture."
.
A more plausible explanation for the purchase, estimated to run the Southeast Asian investors between $35 million and $45 million, was suggested by the seller.
.
Tony Cervone, spokesman for Chrysler, said Lamborghini and its engineering department would aid the buyers in their interest in expanding into Formula 1 racing and developing technology for so-called supercars, expensive high-performance racing cars sold for road use.
.
Mr. Suharto and Mr. Djody, through their Bermuda companies, have invested $7.6 million over the past 18 months to take a 57 percent stake in Vector Aeromotive, a small Wilmington, California, company that next year hopes to begin selling its $190,000 Avtech SC Super Coupe.
.
"They have no development skills," Mr. Cervone said of Vector. "With Lamborghini, they'll be getting a huge set of brains." Is the purchase of Italy's Lamborghini a $40 million toy for the son of Indonesia's President Suharto and his friends or rather the core of a Malaysian-Indonesian joint venture to create a local automotive industry?
.
Western analysts said the former appeared the better explanation for the just-completed sale by Chrysler Corp. of Automobili Lamborghini SpA, the famed maker of expensive sports cars, to Megatech Ltd.
.
Megatech is a Bermuda-registered company jointly owned by Hutomo (Tommy) Mandala Putra, the youngest son of President Suharto, and Mycom Setdco, a Bermuda-based subsidiary of Mycom Bhd., the Malaysian property and gaming concern.
.
In a filing with the Kuala Lumpur stock exchange Tuesday, Mycom said it had agreed to sell half of Mycom Setdco to Setiawan Djody, an Indonesian businessman and the principal owner of the Setdco Group of Indonesia.
.
It said Mycom would have a 25 percent stake in Mycom Setdco, with the remaining 25 percent going to Koperasi Polis DiRaja, a Malaysian police investment fund.
.
The Mycom chairman, Yap yong Seong, was a police intelligence operative during anti- Communist operations in Malaysia. The police investment fund has helped finance his various business ventures since the 1970s, he once said.
.
"The joint venture with the Setdco Group of Indonesia is expected to present the Mycom Group an opportunity to extend and diversify its business activities to Indonesia," Mycom said.
.
"Besides, Megatech also intends to to use the engine technology of Lamborghini to develop commercial vehicles in Indonesia," it said.
.
But Western automotive analysts raised their eyebrows at this claim, noting that much more investment would be required to adapt Lamborghini's high-performance engine technology to every-day requirements of a volume vehicle producer.
.
"It's plausible, but you have to ask whether this is the most cost- efficient way to start an industry," said Louis Bailoni, luxury-car analyst with DRI Automotive Group in Britain. "It would make a lot more sense to just go out and buy the engines you want for your cars."
.
Another London auto analyst, asking not to be named, said that buying Lamborghini in order to launch a local car industry was "ludicrous" and "a very strange way of doing it."
.
Even Lamborghini's top executive said there was little the Italian company could bring to a volume car producer, outside of some research and development assistance. "We're a small company that produces a small number of high-performance cars," said Gianfranco Venturelli, general manager. "Making cars in mass production is a different culture."
.
A more plausible explanation for the purchase, estimated to run the Southeast Asian investors between $35 million and $45 million, was suggested by the seller.
.
Tony Cervone, spokesman for Chrysler, said Lamborghini and its engineering department would aid the buyers in their interest in expanding into Formula 1 racing and developing technology for so-called supercars, expensive high-performance racing cars sold for road use.
.
Mr. Suharto and Mr. Djody, through their Bermuda companies, have invested $7.6 million over the past 18 months to take a 57 percent stake in Vector Aeromotive, a small Wilmington, California, company that next year hopes to begin selling its $190,000 Avtech SC Super Coupe.
.
"They have no development skills," Mr. Cervone said of Vector. "With Lamborghini, they'll be getting a huge set of brains." Is the purchase of Italy's Lamborghini a $40 million toy for the son of Indonesia's President Suharto and his friends or rather the core of a Malaysian-Indonesian joint venture to create a local automotive industry?
.
Western analysts said the former appeared the better explanation for the just-completed sale by Chrysler Corp. of Automobili Lamborghini SpA, the famed maker of expensive sports cars, to Megatech Ltd.
.
Megatech is a Bermuda-registered company jointly owned by Hutomo (Tommy) Mandala Putra, the youngest son of President Suharto, and Mycom Setdco, a Bermuda-based subsidiary of Mycom Bhd., the Malaysian property and gaming concern.
.
In a filing with the Kuala Lumpur stock exchange Tuesday, Mycom said it had agreed to sell half of Mycom Setdco to Setiawan Djody, an Indonesian businessman and the principal owner of the Setdco Group of Indonesia.
.
It said Mycom would have a 25 percent stake in Mycom Setdco, with the remaining 25 percent going to Koperasi Polis DiRaja, a Malaysian police investment fund.
.
The Mycom chairman, Yap yong Seong, was a police intelligence operative during anti- Communist operations in Malaysia. The police investment fund has helped finance his various business ventures since the 1970s, he once said.
.
"The joint venture with the Setdco Group of Indonesia is expected to present the Mycom Group an opportunity to extend and diversify its business activities to Indonesia," Mycom said.
.
"Besides, Megatech also intends to to use the engine technology of Lamborghini to develop commercial vehicles in Indonesia," it said.
.
But Western automotive analysts raised their eyebrows at this claim, noting that much more investment would be required to adapt Lamborghini's high-performance engine technology to every-day requirements of a volume vehicle producer.
.
"It's plausible, but you have to ask whether this is the most cost- efficient way to start an industry," said Louis Bailoni, luxury-car analyst with DRI Automotive Group in Britain. "It would make a lot more sense to just go out and buy the engines you want for your cars."
.
Another London auto analyst, asking not to be named, said that buying Lamborghini in order to launch a local car industry was "ludicrous" and "a very strange way of doing it."
.
Even Lamborghini's top executive said there was little the Italian company could bring to a volume car producer, outside of some research and development assistance. "We're a small company that produces a small number of high-performance cars," said Gianfranco Venturelli, general manager. "Making cars in mass production is a different culture."
.
A more plausible explanation for the purchase, estimated to run the Southeast Asian investors between $35 million and $45 million, was suggested by the seller.
.
Tony Cervone, spokesman for Chrysler, said Lamborghini and its engineering department would aid the buyers in their interest in expanding into Formula 1 racing and developing technology for so-called supercars, expensive high-performance racing cars sold for road use.
.
Mr. Suharto and Mr. Djody, through their Bermuda companies, have invested $7.6 million over the past 18 months to take a 57 percent stake in Vector Aeromotive, a small Wilmington, California, company that next year hopes to begin selling its $190,000 Avtech SC Super Coupe.
.
"They have no development skills," Mr. Cervone said of Vector. "With Lamborghini, they'll be getting a huge set of brains."

source : http://www.iht.com/articles/1994/02/09/hotcar.php

[Neil]

Not only south Korean company...but also others are keeping their options open for Aston Martin.

"Analysts say Hyundai Motor Co., Porsche AG, Toyota Motor Corp. or an investment house, such as the one where former Ford CEO Jacques Nasser is a senior partner, are all possible buyers of the British vehicle brand.

"Hyundai makes the most sense, because they don't really have a luxury brand," said James Bryant, Hoover's auto industry editor in Austin, Texas. "It'd be a turnkey operation."

The South Korean automaker's namesake brand trailed only Porsche and Toyota's Lexus luxury marque in the 2006 J.D. Power and Associates Initial Quality Survey. Hyundai, which has said it wants to have luxury cars on the market by the end of the decade, issued a statement last month saying it wasn't interested in buying Jaguar.

"It's true, at one point we did conduct an internal review to acquire a luxury nameplate like Jaguar, but that option was dropped in view of our immediate priorities," the company said.

Spokesmen for the company weren't immediately available Thursday to comment on speculation about Aston Martin. Seoul, South Korea, is 13 hours ahead of Detroit.

A Toyota spokesman declined to comment, and Porsche spokesman Tony Fouladpour said, "A decision like that would not be considered at this time, though as an international company we always keep our options open."

Peter Morici, an economist and professor at the University of Maryland School of Business, doesn't expect an automaker to purchase the British brand favored by the silver screen's James Bond.

"My feeling is that it would more likely go to an investment house," Morici said. "Aston Martin would be maybe the kind of company that would appeal to Nasser and his group. It has to go to a specialized buyer, like Nasser, who has experience managing an automaker and time to focus on the brand."

Whoever buys the low-volume, uber-highbrow brand would know it has Ford over a barrel, said Hoover's Bryant."

Source: Detroit Free Press

[Abdul]

I still believe that Korean people will buy it.Thjey need that car caompany to develop sportscars.Hyundai is powerful

[zoheb]

at the current moment, Astons don't sell as much as the Ferraris and Lambos.......i wonder what will happen to it, when it goes Korean. :blue_rolleyes:

[Abdul]

maybe Korean will manage production properly.Nice to see so many Euro company bought by Asian.

[zoheb]

I wish the Japanese would have bought it. I mean Koreans make nice cars, but Japanese are better........and Japanese cars are renowned all over the world. Ppl take Japanese engineering as more reliable, and take their craftsmanship as more nice and beautiful.

[Abdul]

sure you are right Zoheb .Japanese is known for so many years in engineering and high reliability.Honda could have bought it or Toyota(worth 200 billions pounds)