Founded in 1913 by Robert Bamford and Lionel Martin, Aston Martin has developed into an iconic brand synonymous with luxury and elegance. 1914 saw the birth of the name 'Aston Martin' following one of Lionel Martin's successful runs at the Aston hill climb in Buckinghamshire.
Throughout the following decades the company enjoyed continued success off and on the track, continuously developing and improving their cars, culminating in winning the World Sports Car Championship in 1959. 1947 saw the start of the industrialist David Brown's involvement with Aston Martin and indeed his initials became the prefix of the cars' model names right up to the present day with the DBS and DB12.
In 1954 the company moved to the famous site at Newport Pagnell, where they remained, through several changes of ownership, until 2003 when their new global headquarters opened in Gaydon, Warwickshire. This was the first purpose built facility in the company's history and they were led by Dr Ulrich Bez from 2000 until 2014 when Andy Palmer took over.
In 2013 they signed a deal with Daimler AG, who took a stake in Aston Martin, to supply them with Mercedes-AMG engines for their range of cars. The company was successfully floated on the London Stock Exchange in the Autumn of 2018 and in January 2020 Canadian billionaire and investor Lawrence Stroll led a consortium who paid £182 million in return for 25% stake in the company. In the same year, Andy Palmer was replaced by Tobias Moers of Mercedes-AMG as CEO.
Today, Aston Martin Works continues to operate out of the legendary Newport Pagnell facility as a new car dealership and service centre and a global Heritage sales, service and restoration facility, as well as at their production facilities in Gaydon and new factory in St Athan in Wales.
