Many were surprised that Aston Martin remained profitable throughout the economic crisis. Recently, CEO Ulrich Bez expressed confidence that the company will continue to make a profit in the coming years. Its new Cygnet minicar is expected to be successful just like the models featured in the James Bond movies. In 2007, Ford Motor Co. sold the British luxury sports car brand for $674 million in 2007 to a group of investors led by Kuwait's Investment Dar.
At the Automobilwoche industry conference, Bez said that his investors are “happy.” Bez, who has been the CEO of Aston Martin since 2000, said that the carmaker won’t look for an industrial partner even as there is a trend now of entering alliances to reduce costs.
Bez said that since Ford has let go of the brand, it has had many successes as an independent company and has been funding its products on its own. Brand purists were surprised at seeing the Cygnet since the tiny 2+1 minicar (slightly bigger than a Smart ForTwo) is very different from the carmaker’s usual big high-performance sports cars. Bez said that the appeal of the Cygnet is such that it will become a cult icon, similar to the DB5 in James Bond movies. [via autonews - sub. required]
