2009 Aston Martin Vantage Traction Control Air Conditioning Cruise Control on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Aston Martin's biggest investor considers increasing its stake

LONDON — The biggest investor in Aston Martin is considering buying another 3% stake, offering to increase its holding after shares in the luxury carmaker crashed almost 50% since its listing nine months ago. Strategic European Investment Group, part of the Italian private equity group Investindustrial, owns 31% of Aston Martin. It only wants to buy a maximum 3% stake but has to make an offer to all shareholders due to its already large holding. It has secured agreements from existing shareholders such as a group of Kuwait-based investors to back the move. It is offering to pay 10 pounds per share, the price at which the shares closed on Friday. It must make a decision by July 29. Aston Martin has struggled since it listed in October last year. Its shares fell on the opening day and are now down 47 percent. The company's recent results have been hit by a need to invest more in its manufacturing plants and expand its vehicle offering, leading to higher costs.  Related Video:

Aston Martin seeks ‘big brother’ despite first profit in years, IPO talk

Aston Martin just reported that it earned $121 million (or GBP87 million) in 2017, its first profit in eight years, and it's preparing for a possible initial public offering, eyeing a valuation as high as $6.95 billion (GBP5 billion). It has a strategy to begin converting its fleet to hybrid and electric powertrains. Nevertheless, the low-volume British luxury marque says it needs a helping hand to survive the wave of autonomous driving technology sweeping the automotive industry. CEO Andy Palmer tells Bloomberg it's looking for a "big brother" partner to help it with the billions of dollars in capital requirements posed by the dawn of driverless cars. "We are making a new kind of company, a company that can survive on 7,000 to 14,000 very highly priced, very profitable cars a year, but it can survive because of its partnerships," Palmer told Bloomberg TV. "It can be very profitable on that 7,000 to 14,000 cars a year but only by having a big brother that can help it out." Palmer said Aston Martin already has a partnership with Daimler AG, which owns a 5-percent stake in the company, to develop autonomous capabilities, but more help is needed. One assumes he is envious of competitors like Rolls-Royce and Bentley, which benefit from the corporate parentage and financial resources of BMW and Volkswagen, respectively. Sales grew 48 percent in 2017 to nearly 5,100 units, Aston's highest sales volume in nine years, on the strength of the DB11 sports car, which starts at $211,995. It was enough for Palmer to proclaim in a release, "The financial turnaround of Aston Martin is now complete." While it shops around for a sugar daddy, Aston Martin is busy building a new factory in Wales, set to open in 2019. It has launched new models like the DB11 Volante and Vantage, plus the limited-production DB4 GT Continuation model. Further out, the company is building 155 examples of its first electric car, the RapidE, due in 2019, and it's developing an electric version of the DBX crossover, also for 2019. Palmer has said Aston Martin will offer all six of its vehicles in hybrid variants by 2025, with 25 percent of its vehicles to be fully electric by the end of the 2020s. Related Video: Image Credit: Aston Martin Aston Martin Autonomous Vehicles Electric Luxury aston martin rapide aston martin vantage aston martin db11 aston martin dbx aston martin db11 volante

2022 Kia EV6 and Acura NSX Type S driven | Autoblog Podcast #715

In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor, Green, John Beltz Snyder and Road Test Editor Zac Palmer. The car chat begins this week with a review of the 2022 Kia EV6, followed by Zac's drive of the 2022 Acura NSX Type-S. Then they discuss Autoblog's new long-term loan, a 2022 BMW 330e xDrive. They've also been driving the Ford Explorer Timberline and Kia Sorento Hybrid. In the news, they discuss the soon-to-be-revealed Alfa Romeo Tonale, as well as the recently unveiled Aston Martin DBX707. Finally, Greg talks about a historical Detroit landmark, the old American Motors Company headquarters, which is set to be demolished. Send us your questions for the Mailbag and Spend My Money at: Podcast@Autoblog.com. Autoblog Podcast #715 Get The Podcast Apple Podcasts – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes Spotify – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast on Spotify RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Cars we're driving 2022 Kia EV6 2022 Acura NSX Type S 2022 BMW 330e xDrive 2022 Ford Explorer Timberline 2022 Kia Sorento Hybrid In the news 2023 Alfa Romeo Tonale coming soon 2022 Aston Martin DBX707 revealed AMC headquarters to join rest of company in oblivion Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on Apple Podcasts Autoblog is now live on your smart speakers and voice assistants with the audio Autoblog Daily Digest. Say “Hey Google, play the news from Autoblog” or "Alexa, open Autoblog" to get your favorite car website in audio form every day. A narrator will take you through the biggest stories or break down one of our comprehensive test drives. Related Video: