The media are expecting an announcement from Ford Motor Co. today over the sale of its Aston Martin unit. The price is expected to be $850 million, a little down from the billion that I first heard. As reported at Bloomberg:

Ford Motor Co., seeking to raise cash after last year’s record loss, will sell its profitable Aston Martin luxury sports-car unit for as much as $850 million to investors led by U.K. auto-racing champion David Richards, a person familiar with the transaction said.
   Richards, founder of Prodrive Ltd., a U.K.-based maker of race-car parts, will be joined in the investment by Adeem Investment KSC and Investment Dar Co., two Kuwait-based Islamic investment companies, Adeem Chief Executive Officer Mustafa al-Saleh said in an interview yesterday.

   If there’s no will to carry Aston on within the Ford group, then it should go. I had thought it would wind up with LVMH, and from a brand standpoint, it made sense, particularly as it was said that Ford would retain some control, which would allow the technology and testing procedures to continue. (Remember that before Ford came along, Aston found it hard to even develop its own airbag.)
   The good news for patriots is that Aston will be British again, albeit with Arab help. Posted by Jack Yan, 11:00  permalink

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