Aston Martin is a British manufacturer of ultra-luxury sports cars with their global headquarters based in Gaydon, Warwickshire. The company was originally founded in 1914 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. The name of the company comes from the name of one of the company's founders, Lionel Martin, and from a stretch of road that was used in the Aston Hill speed hill climb near Aston Clinton in Buckinghamshire. The company has changed hands on multiple occasions and went bankrupt after the Fir
st World War. Aston Martin had initially specialized in making cars for the race track focusing more on speed instead of luxury, and this demanded huge amounts of capital. Unfortunately this also led the company to become bankrupt on more than one occasion. In 1947 the company was acquired by an English tractor manufacturer, David Brown. Under his ownership came some of Aston Martin’s most famed models, the DB line, taking the name from Brown’s initials. The DB line was famous for its racing attributes and luxurious design and met with instant success when it was famously featured in a James Bond film. Since then, the Aston Martin brand has made a global name for itself. However, the company continued to suffer heavy financial setbacks but was rescued again in 1987 by Ford Motors who bought a 75% stake in the British car maker and later bought up the remaining 25% stake in 1994. Aston Martin’s role with Ford Motors did not last and Ford decided to sell the company in 2007 to a small group of Aston Martin enthusiasts headed by David Richards and John Sinders. Currently the company manufactures a range of high-end luxury sports cars including the Vantage, Rapide, DB9 and Virage and it also designs and builds cars which are manufactured by Magna Steyr in Austria.
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