All the upcoming info should be taken with a pinch of salt, since most of it was provided by an unnamed Mercedes-Benz insider who may or may not be entirely correct.
On the other hand, we correlated his intel with various info and spyshots from a few more sources, though, so we decided to go ahead and publish it.
You all know about the recent cooperation agreement signed between Aston Martin and Mercedes-AMG, in which the Germans seemed to get almost nothing in return for them handing out a whole range of bespoke-tuned engines for the Brits. Sure, 5% of Aston Martin isn't exactly nothing, but it sounds way less than powering the Aston Martin entire future lineup.
After the British sold 37.5% of their stakes to Italian private equity Investindustrial, which consequently triggered a new development program worth more than GBP 500 million during the next five years, you can rest assured that a new Aston Martin car platform is coming.
Especially since their Vertical/Horizontal (VH) platform is underpinning their entire current lineup - minus the iQ-based Cygnet and the carbon-fiber One-77 – and it's already ten years old, if you don't count the original Aston Martin Vanquish.
Our insider told us that the first product to benefit from the replacement for the VH platform won't even be an Aston, but the upcoming 2015 Mercedes-Benz Baby SLS, codenamed C190. The same underpinnings of the future Porsche 911 and Jaguar F-Type Coupe fighter from Stuttgart will be used in modified form for the entire future Aston Martin line-up.
Top that with AMG-sourced engines as well, and you can no longer talk about the Gaydon manufacturer as being independent. If all goes according to plan, the future of Aston Martin in becoming a Daimler AG brand is pretty much set. We'll just have to wait and see.
You all know about the recent cooperation agreement signed between Aston Martin and Mercedes-AMG, in which the Germans seemed to get almost nothing in return for them handing out a whole range of bespoke-tuned engines for the Brits. Sure, 5% of Aston Martin isn't exactly nothing, but it sounds way less than powering the Aston Martin entire future lineup.
After the British sold 37.5% of their stakes to Italian private equity Investindustrial, which consequently triggered a new development program worth more than GBP 500 million during the next five years, you can rest assured that a new Aston Martin car platform is coming.
Especially since their Vertical/Horizontal (VH) platform is underpinning their entire current lineup - minus the iQ-based Cygnet and the carbon-fiber One-77 – and it's already ten years old, if you don't count the original Aston Martin Vanquish.
Our insider told us that the first product to benefit from the replacement for the VH platform won't even be an Aston, but the upcoming 2015 Mercedes-Benz Baby SLS, codenamed C190. The same underpinnings of the future Porsche 911 and Jaguar F-Type Coupe fighter from Stuttgart will be used in modified form for the entire future Aston Martin line-up.
Top that with AMG-sourced engines as well, and you can no longer talk about the Gaydon manufacturer as being independent. If all goes according to plan, the future of Aston Martin in becoming a Daimler AG brand is pretty much set. We'll just have to wait and see.