Mercedes-Benz is promising to keep its involvement in Aston Martin subtle and low key, according to company head Dieter Zetsche.
Significantly, Zetsche ruled out any Mercedes or AMG badging from Aston’s future range of cars, which will be powered by engines bought in from the German luxury car maker.
That includes details such as a ‘Powered by AMG’ badge on the engine or bodywork, which could have formed an integral part of the brand identity of the next generations of Vantage, DB9 and Vanquish.
"A subtle involvement with Aston Martin is better for us," Zetsche told Autocar in Munich last week. "Our customers will know about it without us making too much of the link. That is enough for us."
Zetsche also played down any influence that Mercedes might have in directing Aston’s future product plans.
"It is up to Aston Martin to make specific product plans. We have only just agreed a deal in which we announced we would share engines and electrical components," he said.
Zetsche did, however, open the possibility that Mercedes’ alloy chassis architecture could be included in the technology sharing deal.
Aston’s VH bonded and riveted alloy chassis will celebrate its tenth anniversary this year and will need updating to remain competitive in the coming decade against rivals such as Bentley, Ferrari and Porsche.
Aston would have to make a huge investment in a new chassis, and sharing with Mercedes may make financial sense.
"It’s for them to decide. But we would listen carefully to them," said Zetsche.
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To be clear, I have no
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Current Aston Engines
The whole automotive world component shares one way or another, even BMW and Mercedes share tech, and every VW from Skoda to the Bugatti has some commonality, probably because the same component makers make it all. Probably safer to call your car a Bosch/Visteon/Delphi than anything else.
So, the economics are what they are, but the real art is in how you put them together, and for me, nobody does that better than Aston Martin, or makes a better looking car. The care that goes into them is stunning, and for me at least they are irreplaceable. Mine has some Ford/Volvo/JLR bits in it, apparently, but it transcends its components. It is magical.
An AMG engine is not a bad place to start, going forward, but I think the influence will be more obvious from the electronics and the interfaces, and I don't think whoever makes those bits for Merc has done too bad a job!
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I think the outgoing AMG 6.2 litre V8 would be the best engine AM has ever used if they were lucky enough to secure it. I'm sure AM would dump their Ford/Jag V8 in a heartbeat if they could use that engine. The V12's should switch over to a detuned One-77 engine.
They could also take some Mercedes electrical components, the previous Volvo satnav was an abomination, and it's replacement is hardly any better.