DRIVEINSIDE - Key Persons
Aston Martin Lagonda Limited is a British manufacturer of luxury sports cars. It's headquartered in Gaydon, Warwickshire and also has operations in the Middle East, North Africa and India. The company's Chief Executive Officer is Ulrich Bez. Its worldwide revenues totaled approximately US$925 million in 2007.
Aston Martin from 1994 to 2007 was a part of the Ford Motor Company and on March 12, 2007 was purchased by a joint venture, headed by David Richards and co-owned by Investment Dar and businessman John Sinders. Ford retained 12.1% stake in the company.
Aston Martin launched operations in India when it opened its first dealership in Mumbai on 15 April, 2011 in partnership with Performance Cars (a division of Infinity Cars Pvt Ltd.). Infinity Cars is an Indian company that has been dealing with Indian luxury cars and yachts for many years and is headed by Abhimanyu Singh, General Manager of Infinity Cars Pvt. Ltd.
The Mumbai dealership sells and gives customers the opportunity to test drive the V8 Vantage Coupe and Roadster, V12 Vantage, DB9 Coupe and Volante, DBS Coupe, and Volante, the four-door sports car, Rapide; the recently launched V8 Vantage S and the new Virage. Aston Martin India plans to introduce its second dealership in New Delhi soon.
Aston Martin has gone through a number of ownership changes in its lifetime. In 1972, it was sold to Company Developments Ltd, backed by a Birmingham-based consortium. Again, in 1975, it was taken over by businessmen Peter Sprague (from USA) and George Minden (from Canada).
2006: This was a year where four major events happened for Aston Martin: the Rapide four door coupe concept was unveiled at the Detroit North American International Auto Show, the thirty thousandth Aston Martin was built, the DB5 and DBS showcased in the Casino Royale James Bond movie, and Aston Martin was voted as UK's coolest brand.
Aston Martin is planning to launch the Cygnet-an Electric Vehicle. The racing debut of the V12 Zagato will be at the Nürburgring on 28th May 2011 with a view to two cars racing at the 24 hour race on 25th June and Dr. Ulrich Bez will be driving it.
Aston Martin has been producing the V8 Vantage since 2005. From 2005, Aston Martin has showcased the expensive car, bolted in a roll bar and sports seats and then showcased the car on the world stage.
Another car Aston Martin created is the N24 and it continues to be a key player in sports car racing, having made its debut at the 2006 Nürburgring 24 hour race. The N24 soon spawned a special edition road car, the N400.
Aston Martin Rapide, one of Aston Martin's notable cars, has a six-litre V12 engine which produces 470 bhp. It is a luxurious car with good features.
Aston Martin One 77 has a 7.3 litre V12 engine and a dry lubrication system which produces 750 bhp and torque of 750 Nm. It also has a front-engine rear-drive layout which means that the engine of the car is located at the front of the car while the driver wheels are at the back of the car. It has a Carbon Ceramic Matrix brake technology that transfers less heat from the brake pads to the brake fluids and attention has been paid to the brake cooling so that less time is there to cool between acceleration.
Aston Martin V8 Vantage is the fourth car, which has eight cylinders that produce 380 bhp. The cars deliver a mileage of three to six kilometers per litre.
Aston Martin has also joined hands with Pico Technology to supply an oscilloscope diagnostics kit to each Aston Martin dealer all over the world. The oscilloscope is a kit that turns a PC into a high-performances diagnostic tool that can be used on all makes of the vehicle. The oscilloscope can show the map, the airflow sensors, starter motors, fuel pumps, complex multi-cylinder ignition, injection partners and even the bus physical signals. This is beneficial to customers as they get to view the car in all its transparency. Aston Martin produces these kits for manufacturers of cars and trucks.
As a manufacturer of sports cars, Aston Martin has been associated with numerous awards and trophies over the last century. Aston Martin Racing is a team sponsored by the company which has distinguished itself in the last couple of years.
Aston Martin of Newport Beach won the After Sales Shop of the Year award, fulfilling all customer care aspects of the Aston Martin Mission Statement.
Prior to this, winners of the award included - The Collection in Miami, Florida, (2008) and Aston Martin of Dallas (2007). The award involves every aspect of customer service, including Sales, Service, Parts and After Sales Support. The After Sales purpose is to "Provide after Sales excellence and customer focused support ensuring that Aston Martin ownership is an exciting and satisfying experience, promoting brand retention and loyalty."
The award is really special because to win this award the dealer has to perform well in Customer Car, Fixed Right First Time scores, Parts Department stocking level management, and be recommended by the regional management team. Aston Martin of Newport Beach excelled in each category. They provide world-class services along with their world-class luxury vehicles and have high standards of customer service.
Aston Martin Newport Beach is located on Newport Beach and its sale and service centers provide a very different, thought-provoking and luxurious experience. They have staff to meet all your needs.
Among the 51 cars that were showcased in the 2011 New York Autoshow, Aston Martin was clearly the crowd favorite. As a producer of sports cars, Aston Martin has made great headways into the field of car manufacturing. Its brand new cars the Aston Martin Rapide got the award - the "World Car Design of the Year Award." This was a pleasant surprise as it has made a transition from the coupe-design to the four-door sedan.
Aston Martin began manufacturing cars in 1914. Aston Martin's cars include the DB7, DB8, Vanquisher, Rapide and DBR8 amongst others.
In the 1980s the Aston Martin Lagonda was sold to Persian Gulf states, particularly Oman, Kuwait and Qatar.
Aston Martin has manufacturing facilities in England, and Australia and the company manufactures about 8,000 cars per year.
The Aston Martin Rapide was produced at the Magna Steyr factor in Graz, Australia.
The One-77, one of the most exciting luxury cars of Aston Martin was showcased in Mumbai in 2011. This car has a price tag of Rs. 200 million.
Aston Martin has offices in Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, France, India, Denmark and other parts of the world. The company has created a new test center located adjacent to the Nurburgring circuit. The company tests Aston Martin cars at this place for sixteen weeks every year.
The company also created a building in Meuspath located opposite the Döttinger Höhe main straight to create Aston Martin's first test facility. The 26,000sq ft. building has three main areas - a testing area as well as a vehicle workshop, a dedicated facility to tend the Aston Martin's European press fleet with a total of six inspection ramps. The interior space has been designed to be such that it can hold race events, track experiences and even vehicle launches. There is a reception and a showroom that welcomes guests to explore Aston Martin's products.
Aston Martin Racing has been created in partnership with Prodrive, one of the world's leading motor sport and automotive technology specialists and Prodrive will be responsible for Aston Martin Racing's global operations as well as play an important role in the plans to see a competitive Aston Martin program return to the world sports car series.
Croatia, Brazil, Czech Republic, Greece, Taiwan, Turkey and Chile were three new regions of the world where Aston Martin has entered along with the emerging markets including China and Middle East.
Aston Martin aims to become the market leader in sports and luxury cars, with a combination of usability, new technology and great engineering capability. The nearly hundred-year old sports car manufacturer boasts an unequalled heritage, a reputation for creativity and craftsmanship, and an unmatched product line-up. Its award-winning range of cars, including the V8 Vantage, the DB9 and the flagship DBS, embodies the values of power, beauty and soul. The company's other values include, but are not limited to: individuality, adherence to the highest manufacturing standards, hand finishing and bespoke craftsmanship, ensuring each and every Aston Martin is a unique expression of a long tradition.
Over the years, Aston Martin has stayed true to these values, creating some of the most iconic British sports cars of the post-war era, the most prominent of these being the David Brown (DB) series, created during David Brown's ownership of the company; the Lagonda and the Rapide. Each Aston Martin is modern, exclusive and beautiful, with an exceptional character that rewards the car enthusiast, both on the road and on the race track. Driving these cars is a unique, exhilarating experience that becomes possible only with the shared vision and values of the company's excellent team of designers and engineers.
Ulrich Bez, the current CEO of the company, thinks that Aston Martin is the only "exclusive understated" sports car. In 2003, he envisioned the company floating its shares in the stock market, and stated that its aim was to have dealerships all over the world with equal sales in the UK, the European market, the US and the rest of the world.
Dr. Ulrich Bez has been the CEO of Aston Martin since 2000. He has created a modern British brand of luxury cars that are known all over the world. He is responsible for the establishment and creation of the DBR9 and DBRS9 cars - a series of David Brown cars.
Job Titles:
- Chief Financial Officer of Aston Martin
Job Titles:
- Managing Director of European Operations and Regional
Jeffery Scott is the Managing Director of European Operations and Regional General Manager of Europe of Aston Martin since July 2010. He is responsible for sales, marketing and expanding the dealer network in Europe. He has also worked at Toyota, Lexus, Jaguar and Ford - the notable car companies of the world. .
Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford founded Aston Martin in 1914.
In 2011, Aston Martin produced over 22,000 cars worldwide, which is a very small number compared to Toyota, GM and Ford's production.
According to Aston Martin, the progression of production is as follows:
250 cars produced in 1973.
2,067 cars produced in 2004.
22,000 cars produced in 2011.
Michael Van Der Sande is the Chief Commercial Officer and part of the company's Executive Management Board since 2009. He last worked in Tesla Motors where he was the senior Vice President of Global Sales and he also worked at Harley Davidson in 1996 as the Vice President and Managing Director for European operations, Middle East Operations and African Operations overseeing three hundred and seventy dealerships in thirty-six countries. Other companies he has been with include Harley-Davidson, Nissan Europe, Rolls-Royce and Bentley.
Job Titles:
- Director of Business Development
Aston Martin Lagonda Limited appointed Philipp Grosse Kleimann as the Director of Business Development in 2011. He will report to Dr. Ulrich Bez, Chief Executive Officer, Aston Martin, and will be part of the company's Executive Management Board. He previously worked at Daimler.
Hanno Kirner has been Chief Financial Officer of Aston Martin since 2010. He joined Aston Martin from Rolls-Royce where he served as the Director of Finance and IT for five years and has extensive experience of the automotive industry. He's also worked at BMW before at the in-house consulting division in 2000 for controlling finance projects. In 2002, he took over responsibility of the IT and corporate projects. He worked at Haarmann Hemmelrath Management Consultants in Hamburg specializing in controlling and finance issues in IPOs and Mergers and Acquisitions prior to joining BMW.