It’s not new news that Aston Martin are up for sale. The luxury car manufacturer, based in the UK, have been struggling for a number of years – they may have beautiful cars and a hell of a lot of automotive knowledge, but we all know that in business that counts for nothing unless you’re making a profit too!
So, the time has come for the flagging brand to seek out some new blood and some new investment, Rumours are rife – everyone from Tata Motors (who already own JLR on the same site) through to Toyota have been speculated as interested parties. I have my own inklings as to what may happen down the line (all surely to be disproved, of course), but the latest more concrete reports say that Indian firm Mahindra & Mahindra, big competitors to the aforementioned Tata Motors, have made a formal bid. In fact, the economic papers are ablaze with the possibilities that this deal could go through as soon as next week – but we’ll see!
Will they own Aston Martin in the future?
Anyway, the idea of a tractor maker (Mahindra & Mahindra are specialists in tractors, selling them across 6 continents) owning a sportscar brand like Aston has been raising a few eyebrows. In fact, and I quote -
“Some analysts questioned Mahindra’s strategy. “It’s difficult to visualise a tractor and an Aston Martin in the same garage,” said Mads Kaiser, a Silkeborg, Denmark-based fund manager with JI India Equity Fund, which owns Mahindra shares in its $200-million Indian equities portfolio.”
Of course, the world has a tendency to go full circle. We all go back to our roots at some point or other, and it may amuse you to know that the reason Astons are called DB6/7/9 etc. is because the company was bought by Sir David Brown in 1947. Why is this funny? Because Sir David Brown was quite famous in his field (pun intended) – as a manufacturer of tractors! Could we expect to see a regression in the Aston Martin brand in years to come? Will the tractors drive again?!
Maybe a Mahindra & Mahindra buyout is more relevant than you’d think…
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