Report - Mercedes-Benz contemplating complete takeover of Aston Martin

New reports have emerged which claim that the German car maker Mercedes-Benz is contemplating the purchase of British sports car manufacturer Aston Martin.

According to Autocar, Dieter Zetsche Mercedes-Benz CEO tried to dampen the speculation and only said that Aston Martin is a fantastic brand which the company is willing to support in its further development.

A technical agreement is already in place between the companies, which allows Aston Martin to access AMG's resources. Daimler currently holds a five percent stake in the British automaker.

As per the current partnership Aston Martin will be able to utilize some parts of the electronic and electric architectures built by Daimler for their new V8 engines that will be seen on the next Vantage. While the technical aspects have been kept secret, the motor could most likely be a twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 engine producing about 480bhp.

This takeover would also depend on whether Aston Martin’s investor Investindustrial which had spent 150 million GBP (1,521 crore rupees) last year to acquire a 37.5 percent stake in the company is willing to let go off its shares.

[Source - AutoCar]