Aston Martin sold

[99Flake]

What I find strange is that GM have had all these problems and have been haemorrhaging money they are the ones most likely to buy Chrysler?

As for Aston it is great to see it in British hands but my only worry is that Prodrive won't have the funding to keep Aston where it is. Ford had access to a huge parts bin thus making the cars easier to produce and more reliable (that is the theory anyway). Prodrove don't.

As for who Ford now own:

Land Rover
Volvo
Jaguar

All part of the Premium Auto Group (PAG)

[Butuz]

Ford had access to a huge parts bin thus making the cars easier to produce and more reliable (that is the theory anyway). Prodrove don't.

And having switchgear off a ford mondeo was a good thing how exactly?!!

Butuz

[99Flake]

And having switchgear off a ford mondeo was a good thing how exactly?!!

Butuz

I wouldn't say it was a 'good thing' not if you are looking at the car as bespoke but it is a good thing if you don't want the car to go wrong or spend insane amounts of money on designing and moulding a new heater switch when you have a Volvo/Land Rover part that will do the job already.

Yes it is nice to have your car that exclusive but if I were buying one I really wouldn't car whether the heater switches were designed by a magical imp with a platinum pen or by Bob from Volvo, as long as it fits in with the look and works that is all that matters.

[Butuz]

Maybe it's just me that would resent paying Aston prices for fiesta / volvo indicator stalks etc?

Butuz

[99Flake]

Not at all. In an ideal world all the switchgear would be bespoke. Problem is that Ford took over a company which had no money, had never made a profit and suffered from huge reliability problems. What better way to solve this than build cars using existing parts where possible, cheaper and of known reliablility.

A lot of the cost of cars is the design of small and fiddly parts and as such the bods in Ford would have not wanted to spend out on a franchise that was at the time a bit of an unknown quantity.

I do agree with what you are saying, you pay more you should get more. However I feel that Volvo switch gear looks and feels fine in an Aston.