TUCKED away deep in the 321-page prospectus that Aston Martin provided to the London Stock Exchange when it went public this month is something worthy of a James Bond investigation.
The prospectus show an unidentified person bought the tooling and design drawings for the outgoing Vanquish – for US$26 million, or about $37m in Australian folding stuff.
There’s no word on who purchased the tooling, so no one knows where it might pop up, in what fashion.
Automotive News believes any one of the exotic tuning companies from Europe could have scooped up drawings, which would enable them to produce perfectly sized body kits.
Another possibility is Kahn Design which in the past has built bespoke cars based on Aston Martin running gear.
Or might it be Smersh?
There’s another unique feature about the sale: The new Aston Martin Consulting engineering works will deliver 18 months of assistance.
So whichever person or company bought the Vanquish tooling and design drawings can draw on the knowledge of the company that built the car in the first place.
Was it a wealthy car lover who wants to create a new spec racing series using the Vanquish body as the style focus for the series, could it result in something darker, perhaps a really fast Putinmobile, or another exotic to later arise from Dubai – or China?
Automotive News is of the opinion it could be a tuning shop or a third-party Aston Martin repair centre looking to acquire the proper parts to keep its customers happy for decades to come.
But right now, nobody knows.
