Two pieces of Aston Martin news

[Pebb]

Aston workers vote to strike

Source: AutoCar

Workers at Aston Martin’s Gaydon factory have voted to strike in a dispute over pay.

The dispute is over pay rises for the next two years. Workers rejected an offer of 6.75 per cent rises over the next two years, due to the possibility of receiving up to £2500 less than someone doing the same job.

It’s bad news for Aston Martin, which was recently bought by a consortium led by Prodrive’s David Richards.

The workers who have elected to strike are 656 members of the Transport and General Workers' Union; members of the Amicus union are to vote on Thursday.

A spokesman for the TGWU, Des Quinn, said: "Whilst there are other outstanding issues that needed to be addressed, we believe they can be resolved by negotiation.”

Aston hits the jackpot

Source: Auto Express

Could the recent deal to buy Aston Martin have made the firm the world's richest car company?

It certainly looks that way. That's because the David Richards-led buyout was financed by a group of businessmen from the Middle East, and it's believed the deal is the first in the motor industry to be fully compliant with Islamic sharia law, which opposes the speculative borrowing of money.

This means that while a large part of the deal to buy Aston will be funded with a bank loan, much of the money will be in cash - which will give Aston Martin spending power that it hasn't previously enjoyed. The net result of this is that Aston will be able to speed development of cars such as the four-door Rapide (pictured).

"We will be able to do things now that we have never been able to achieve before," said the firm's chief executive, Ulrich Bez. "Under Ford, we always lost out because there had been other calls on the money. Furthermore, there is no longer a ceiling on our production numbers. The only limit is the capacity at the factory in Gaydon, Warks.

"We have no problems with engine supply, a V8 Vantage Sport will come in the autumn, and the DBS is slated for an October launch. The Rapide will appear in 2008, and production of the saloon will rise to 2,000 cars a year."

 

[Dave A]

The strike is typical of a workers unions involvment with a companies employees. It's nothing major that shouldn't be sorted out pretty quick, the money situation is a massive relife for me to hear and fantastic news as the only thing I was unsure about with the whole ProDrive takeover was how much cash Aston would have to spend.

 

[Philly]

Strikes don't do that much to a company. After all, Aston can probably last longer without employees than the employees can last without jobs.

Is the prodrive money one-time only or will it come as a stream? Aston may be the richest company now, but how about in a year? My guess is that they will have to use the money very well in order to stay near the top of the charts. I am looking forward to the new models to hit the streets. Can't wait to see them in person.

 

[Tornado]

I'm sure Aston would have wanted all of that money a couple of years ago, when they were designing the new engines, instead of now when most development costs are paid off by now.
But seriously, think about it. Nearly all of Aston's model development (barring the three most recent ones) has been funded entirely by the profits of the car before them, no matter how meager they were (The Virage being funded by the V8 Vantage Zagato springs to mind). And Aston still made fantastic products despite the poor supply of cash. Imagine what they could pull off if they had stuopid amounts of money to fund future models.

 

[harrytuttle]

Aston workers vote to strike

Source: AutoCar

Workers at Aston Martin’s Gaydon factory have voted to strike in a dispute over pay.

<yadda yadda yadda>

Aston hits the jackpot

Source: Auto Express

Could the recent deal to buy Aston Martin have made the firm the world's richest car company?[/B]

I'm sure one has nothing to do with the other. But good for AM. They deserve it after decades of poverty. I can't wait to see what they turn out two years from now.