As of tomarrow
(article title March 9th)
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=aFaIr6g0acig

 

Wow I have to say I am pretty suprised by that. Maybe Ford is trying to find a place for Jag and without AM being in Ford it can move up into its spot.

 

Well, even when Aston is profitable, its tiny compared to the rest of Ford, and as the article stated its not like the tech is trickling down into Mustangs or anythings... I do think 800 million seems a little low, I dont see how thats going to stop the hemorraging...

 

what happened to the news about them selling aston martin to louis vuitton?

 

I simply don't understand this.

Ford loses $12 billion in a year.

It typically costs at least $1 billion to create a whole new car.

Aston Martin is profitable... meaning it drains nothing from Ford, pays for it's own design & engineering, and is a brand that sells to everyone from old money Brits to multi-billionare Middle-Eastern playboys.

Every James Bond movie that comes out is part Ford advertisement.

It's the only brand owned by an American car company that is a status symbol in Monte Carlo or any of the most elite playgrounds on the planet.

And Ford sells it for what? $868.....million?!!!

Donald Trump has more than that! Bill Gates probally makes more than that in a couple of years! GM probally spends more than that per year studying cupholder sizes! WTF is going on with Ford! What are they going to do with with that meager amount of money after losing a self-sufficient status symbol like AM? Pay a few bonuses??

IMHO, this ranks up there with desparate senseless acts of automotive history with Studebaker selling off their foundry and buying Chevy engines (even though Studebaker's V8 engines were arguably superior). But I shouldn't be surprised. Ford's done some odd things before:

*Killed off the MN12 Thunderbird, even though it outsold Monte Carlo.

*Killed off the class starting and widely acclaimed Lincoln LS instead of restyling it.

*Started the Bling SUV market with the Navigator, then let it rot at the hands of Cadillac.

*Replaced the cheap to make, economical, and powerful 5.0 V8 with a expensive-to-make, nearly as economical and slightly less powerful 4.6 V8.

*Spend 20 years making a car that took on toe-to-toe the best Japan had to offer in that class, then not only leave it to rot, but kill it off and replace it with 2 smaller volume cars, purposely spending twice to get fewer sales.

*Naming everything at Lincoln "MK*", promptly sending to the scrapheap names that have equity and history behind them, including the new catchy "Zephyr", that gathered an early following.


****rant off****

 

That story was....well....

 

Yeah, I raised the exact same point when I first heard of those rumours. Aston Martin is an ICON. It's a status symbol. It's a lot of things.

Nowadays, internet companies are bought and sold for billions. Internet companies, for Pete's sake, which are nowhere near the level of Aston Martin.

The name alone, in my opinion, is worth a lot more than that. $1 billion gain is a drop in a bucket compared to the 12 billion loss.

My only conclusion is that there are far more factors in this decision than simply money. It could not possibly be about the lousy less than $900 million.

I mean, GM did a several billion mafia payout to Fiat, didn't they? It's just a little joke, but maybe there were deep contracts or issues which would have cost Ford more.

If not, then Ford deserves Darwin award, and will not have sympathy from me when natural selection deems it unfit for survival.

 

They say it takes many mistakes to destroy a company and Ford is a big company. I'm sure they have reasons to sell Aston Martin maybe they felt Ford was bringing them down. As guy listed this isn't the first mistake and not the last.

 

i didnt think that it could be true, but i never heard otherwise...

 

Aston sold for 925 million to Prodrive and others, Ford will retain 77 million investment:

http://jalopnik.com/cars/news/aston-...ion-243441.php