The History of Aston Martin: Racing, Bond Cars and Many Rescues

Aston Martin at a glance

How two Singer dealers started a sports car company

Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford began in 1912 by selling Singer cars from premises in Callow Street, London, and incorporated their business on 15 January 1913. Martin raced a modified car at Aston Hill near Aylesbury, and the hill gave the future cars half of their name. The first Aston Martin used a Coventry-Simplex engine in an Isotta Fraschini chassis and was nicknamed "Coal Scuttle". It was registered in 1915, built at Henniker Mews in Kensington.

The First World War stopped everything. Martin joined the Admiralty and Bamford the Army Service Corps, and the machinery was sold. Bamford left in 1920, and the racing driver Louis Zborowski put money into the firm. In 1922 Aston Martin built two cars for the French Grand Prix at Strasbourg, and both retired with mechanical failures. The cars also set speed records at Brooklands. Racing brought publicity but not profit: around 55 cars were built up to 1924, when Bamford & Martin went bankrupt and Lady Charnwood bought it.

The Bertelli years at Feltham

In 1925 and 1926 a new group led by Bill Renwick and Augustus Cesare "Bert" Bertelli took control, renamed the firm Aston Martin Motors and moved it to Feltham, west of London. Bertelli designed every new Aston Martin until 1937. His 1.5-litre cars, such as the International and the Le Mans and Ulster sports models, gave the brand its first lasting reputation for well-built, fast small cars.

Money remained the problem. In 1932 the London distributor Lance Prideaux Brune rescued the company for a year before Sir Arthur Sutherland took over. From 1936 the company concentrated on road cars, and about 700 cars of all types had been built when war stopped production again in 1939.

David Brown and the DB cars, 1947–1972

The modern brand begins in 1947, when the Yorkshire industrialist David Brown, whose company made gears and tractors, bought Aston Martin. In the same period he bought Lagonda, gaining a straight-six engine developed under W. O. Bentley. The Lagonda six went into the DB2 of 1950, and the initials of the owner became the model names. Production moved to Newport Pagnell in Buckinghamshire in 1955 and stayed there until 2007.

Production figures come from dealer heritage records and differ slightly between sources. The DB2/4 Touring Spyder, one of three Italian-bodied roadsters, shows how the Brown era already mixed British engineering with Italian coachwork. The DB5's role in Goldfinger tied the brand to James Bond for decades; our page on the Aston Martin DB5 covers that car in detail.

The 1959 season: Le Mans and a world title

David Brown wanted a Le Mans win, and he got it in 1959. The DBR1/2 of Roy Salvadori and Carroll Shelby won the 24 Hours, and a second DBR1 driven by Maurice Trintignant and Paul Frère finished second. After Stirling Moss won the Tourist Trophy at Goodwood in the same car, Aston Martin took the World Sportscar Championship for constructors with 24 points, ahead of Ferrari and Porsche on 18 each. It remains the brand's only world sports car title.

Five DBR1s were built, with a 3.0-litre straight-six of 186 kW (250 hp) designed under Ted Cutting. In 2017 DBR1/1 sold for 22.55 million US dollars (about €19 million at the time), a record for a British car. The DB3S was its predecessor on the circuit. A short Formula One programme in 1959 and 1960 was less successful: six starts and no points.

Receivership and rescues, 1972–1987

Brown cleared the company's debts and sold it in 1972 to Company Developments, a Birmingham group, for a token 101 pounds. Late in 1974 it went into receivership and the factory closed in December. In April 1975 the receiver sold the business to Peter Sprague, George Minden and Jeremy Turner for 1.05 million pounds, and the works reopened in September as Aston Martin Lagonda Limited.

The new owners launched William Towns's wedge-shaped Lagonda saloon in 1976 and the V8 Vantage in 1977. Demand stayed small: in 1980 sales had fallen to about three cars a week. In January 1981 Victor Gauntlett's Pace Petroleum and CH Industrials took joint control, the Prince of Wales granted a Royal Warrant in 1982, and Peter Livanos's company became the main shareholder in 1983–1984. Gauntlett also brought Bond back: The Living Daylights of 1987 used a V8.

By our count the company changed owner five times in the fifteen years between 1972 and 1987, and went through one receivership on the way.

Ford ownership, 1987–2007

Ford bought 75 % of the company in 1987 and the rest in 1993; the brand later became part of Ford's Premier Automotive Group. The Virage of 1988 replaced the old V8 range. The real change came with the DB7, announced in 1993 and built from 1994 in a new factory at Bloxham, Oxfordshire. Output reached a record 700 cars in 1995.

The V12 Vanquish followed in 2001. In 2003 the company opened its current headquarters and factory at Gaydon in Warwickshire and launched the DB9, the first car on its bonded-aluminium VH platform. An engine plant in Cologne opened in October 2004. On the track, Aston Martin Racing was formed in 2005, and the DBR9 won the GT1 class at Le Mans in 2007 and 2008.

Independence, Mercedes engines and a stock market listing

On 12 March 2007 Ford sold Aston Martin to a consortium led by David Richards, chairman of the Prodrive motorsport company, for 475 million pounds (about €700 million). The last Newport Pagnell car, a Vanquish S, was finished on 19 July 2007. That year the company sold about 7,300 cars, roughly ten times its 1995 output by our calculation, and still its best year.

The financial crisis hit sales hard. Investindustrial bought 37.5 % for 150 million pounds in December 2012, and a 2013 agreement with Daimler brought Mercedes-AMG V8 engines and electronics in exchange for a small shareholding. The DB11 arrived in 2016, and the company floated on the London Stock Exchange on 3 October 2018. The DBX, the brand's first SUV, is built at St Athan in Wales, a factory that opened in 2019.

The Stroll era and electrification plans

In January 2020 a consortium led by Lawrence Stroll agreed to invest 182 million pounds (about €215 million) for 16.7 %, later raised to 25 %. The Racing Point Formula One team became Aston Martin from the 2021 season. Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund joined in 2022, and Geely bought 7.6 % in 2022 and raised its holding to 17 % in 2023.

A June 2023 deal with Lucid Motors will supply electric drive and battery systems, although the first electric Aston Martin was later put back to 2030. The DB12 replaced the DB11 in 2023, and the mid-engined Valhalla entered production in 2025. Losses remain heavy: for 2025 the group reported revenue of about 1.26 billion pounds and a net loss of about 493 million pounds.

Aston Martin compared with its British rivals

Aston Martin is the oldest of these and the only one still independent and listed, which explains both its character and its money troubles. You can set two models side by side in our comparison tool, check their footprint with the size comparison tool or browse the whole range in the Aston Martin catalogue.

Our verdict: why the brand keeps surviving

Aston Martin has been bankrupt or close to it many times, yet every new owner has kept it alive for the same reasons: the DB name, the 1959 Le Mans win and James Bond. Collectors pay most for the Brown-era DB cars and the DB4 GT and DB5 in particular. For a used modern car, the Ford-era DB7 and DB9 are the most affordable way in, but the V12 cars need specialist servicing, so a full service history matters more than mileage.