Editorial

It’s been a long time coming, but at one o’clock on Monday lunchtime the waiting was over – Aston Martin has a new owner, a consortium of businessmen led by David Richards, the man behind Prodrive, the Aston Martin Racing team, the Subaru World Rally Team and Prodrive’s confirmed entry in the 2008 Formula One World Championship.

An Aston enthusiast to the core (he has a fine collection of the marque), Richards – working in tandem with Chief Executive Dr. Ulrich Bez – is exactly the right person to head up the consortium now owning the invigorated British manufacturer, that has seen such success in the showrooms for its highly-rated, totally new cars.

With the phase-out of Vanquish production at Newport Pagnell, all are now produced at Gaydon; a result of Dr. Bez’s tenure in office.

But make no mistake, there’ll be sound business sense behind all the decisions made, and two early announcements were that the new funding guarantees the production of both the four-door Rapide and the flagship-model DBS, seen at Gaydon unadorned by James Bond branding.

And looking pretty good too, as you can see above.

Steve Wakefield Managing Editor sw@classicdriver.com