Aston Martin seeks boost from Mercedes

LUXURY sports car maker Aston Martin is to team up with Daimler’s high-performance Mercedes-AMG division to develop a new generation of V8 engines.

Under the deal, Daimler will take a stake of up to 5 per cent in the 100-year-old firm, which achieved its greatest fame with the 1963 launch of the DB5 sports car featured in early James Bond movies.

The agreement follows the sale three months ago of a 37.5 per cent stake in Aston Martin to Italian private equity group Investindustrial for $241 million (£157.4m).

The deals are expected to help Aston compete better against the likes of Volkswagen’s Bentley and Porsche brands, as well as Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), which was bought by India’s Tata Motors in 2008.

JLR said earlier this month that worldwide sales grew 14 per cent to 210,190 in the first six months of the year, boosted by strong demand in China, where sales have already overtake 2012’s full-year total.

Aston sells some 15 per cent of its vehicles in Asia but wants to boost its presence in emerging markets.

Product development director Ian Minards said: “The opportunity to include content from Mercedes-AMG in our next generation sports cars is, clearly, good news. This points to a very bright future for the company as it starts its second century in business.”