. please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information . july 2014 aston martin lagonda limited type private limited company industry automobile manufacturing founded london 1913 1913 founder lionel martin robert bamford headquarters gaydon warwickshire england united kingdom area served worldwide key people ulrich bez non executive chairman andy palmer ceo marek reichman director of design hanno kirner cfo 1 products automobiles revenue 474.3 million 2010 2 net income 7.6 million 2010 2 owner prestige motor holdings 39 % asmar 19 % primewagon jersey ltd 19 % adeem investments 11 % daimler 5 % dar capital 5 % sthewaz automotive 2 % other minor shareholders 10 % number of employees 1 250 2010 3 subsidiaries aston martin racing 50 % lagonda 100 % website astonmartin.com aston martin lagonda limited is a british manufacturer of luxury sports cars and grand tourers . it was founded in 1913 by lionel martin and robert bamford . the firm became associated with luxury grand touring cars in the 1950s and 1960s and with the fictional character james bond following his use of a db5 model in the 1964 film goldfinger . the company has had a chequered financial history including bankruptcy in the 1970s but has also enjoyed long periods of success and stability including under the ownership of david brown from 1947 to 1972 and of the ford motor company from 1994 to 2007 . in march 2007 a consortium of investors led by david richards purchased 92 % of aston martin for 479 million with ford retaining a 40 million stake . 4 david richards became chairman of aston martin . in december 2012 the italian private equity fund investindustrial 5 signed a deal to buy 37.5 % of aston martin investing 150 million as a capital increase . 6 7 contents 1 history 1.1 founding 1.2 inter war years 1.3 david brown era 1.4 1970s changing ownership 1.5 1980s victor gauntlett 1.6 ford era 1.7 2007 the richards era 1.8 2012 investindustrial stakeholding and new chief executive officer 1.9 relationship with mercedes amg 2 models 2.1 pre war cars 2.2 post war sports and gt cars 2.3 other 2.4 current models 3 motorsport 3.1 whole race cars post war 3.2 engine supply only 3.3 formula one world championship results 3.4 24 hours of le mans finishes 4 sponsorships 5 see also 6 notes 7 external links history early aston martin marque aston martin 2 litre 2 4 seater sports 1937 founding aston martin was founded in 1913 by lionel martin and robert bamford . 8 the two had joined forces as bamford & martin the previous year to sell cars made by singer from premises in callow street london where they also serviced gwk and calthorpe vehicles . martin raced specials at aston hill near aston clinton and the pair decided to make their own vehicles . 9 the first car to be named aston martin was created by martin by fitting a four cylinder coventry simplex engine to the chassis of a 1908 isotta fraschini . 10 11 they acquired premises at henniker mews 12 in kensington and produced their first car in march 1915 . production could not start because of the outbreak of world war i and martin joined the admiralty and bamford the royal army service corps . all machinery was sold to the sopwith aviation company . inter war years after the war the company was refounded at abingdon road kensington and a new car designed to carry the aston martin name . bamford left in 1920 and the company was revitalised with funding from count louis zborowski . in 1922 bamford & martin produced cars to compete in the french grand prix which went on to set world speed and endurance records at brooklands . three works team cars with 16 valve twin cam engines were built for racing and record breaking chassis number 1914 later developed as the green pea ; chassis number 1915 the razor blade record car ; and chassis number 1916 later developed as the halford special . approximately 55 cars were built for sale in two configurations long chassis and short chassis . the company went bankrupt in 1924 and was bought by lady charnwood who put her son john benson on the board . the company failed again in 1925 and the factory closed in 1926 with lionel martin leaving . later that year bill renwick augustus bert bertelli and investors which included lady charnwood took control of the company . they renamed it aston martin motors and moved it to the former whitehead aircraft limited works in feltham . renwick and bertelli had been in partnership some years and had developed an overhead cam four cylinder engine using renwick s patented combustion chamber design which they had tested in an enfield allday chassis . the only renwick and bertelli motor car made it was known as buzzbox and still survives . the pair had planned to sell their engine to motor manufacturers but having heard that the aston martin was no longer in production realised they could capitalise on its reputation to jump start the production of a completely new car . between 1926 and 1937 bertelli was both technical director and designer of all new aston martins since known as bertelli cars . they included the 1 litre t type international le mans mkii and its racing derivative the ulster and the 2 litre 15 98 and its racing derivative the speed model . most were open two seater sports cars bodied by bert bertelli s brother enrico harry with a small number of long chassis four seater tourers dropheads and saloons also produced . bertelli was a competent driver keen to race his cars one of few owner manufacturer drivers . the lm team cars were very successful in national and international motor racing including at le mans and the mille miglia . financial problems reappeared in 1932 . the company was rescued for a year by l. prideaux brune before passing it on to sir arthur sutherland . in 1936 aston martin decided to concentrate on road cars producing just 700 until world war ii halted work . production shifted to aircraft components during the war . david brown era 1958 aston martin db mark iii in 1947 tractor manufacturer david brown limited bought the company under the leadership of managing director sir david brown its post war saviour . the company also acquired lagonda that year for its 2.6 litre w. o. bentley designed engine . both companies shared resources and workshops leading to the classic db series of cars . in 1950 the company announced the db2 followed by the db2 4 in 1953 the db2 4 mkii in 1955 the db mark iii in 1957 and the italian styled 3.7 l db4 in 1958 . while these models helped aston martin establish a good racing pedigree the db4 stood out and yielded the famous db5 in 1963 . the company stayed true to its emerging grand touring style with the db6 1965 70 and dbs 1967 1972 . the six cylinder engines of these cars from 1954 up to 1965 were designed by tadek marek . 1970s changing ownership the aston martin company was often financially troubled . in 1972 the firm was sold to company developments a birmingham based consortium chaired by william wilson mbe . 13 the company was resold in 1975 by its receiver following a further bankruptcy to north american businessmen peter sprague and george minden for 1.05 million . 14 a successful turn around strategy led to the recruitment of 360 new employees and by 1977 a trading profit of 750 000 . 14 the new owners pushed the company into modernising its line producing the v8 vantage in 1977 the convertible volante in 1978 and the one off william towns styled bulldog in 1980 . towns also styled the futuristic new lagonda saloon based on the v8 model . in 1980 aston martin sought to buy mg planning to design a new model and offering their take on an updated 1981 model mgb . the acquisition never developed as the company was badly hit by the economic contraction of the early 1980s . worldwide sales shrank to three cars per week prompting chairman alan curtis sprague and minden to consider shutting down production to concentrate on service and restoration . at this point curtis attended the 1980 pace sponsored stirling moss benefit day at brands hatch and met fellow farnham resident victor gauntlett . 1980s victor gauntlett gauntlett bought a 12.5 % stake in aston martin for 500 000 via pace petroleum in 1980 with tim hearley of ch industrials taking a similar share . pace and chi took over as joint 50 50 owners at the beginning of 1981 with gauntlett as executive chairman . gauntlett also led the sales team and after some development and publicity when it became the world s fastest 4 seater production car was able to sell the aston martin lagonda in oman kuwait and qatar . 15 in 1982 aston martin was granted a royal warrant of appointment by the prince of wales . citation needed the company holds the warrant to this day . understanding that it would take some time to develop new aston martin products they created an engineering service subsidiary to develop automotive products for other companies . it was decided to use the name of the coachbuilding company tickford which aston martin had owned since 1955 the name being already associated with quality cars in the public perception . products included a tickford austin metro a tickford ford capri and even tickford train interiors particularly on the jaguar xjs . 15 pace continued sponsoring racing events and now sponsored all aston martin owners club events taking a tickford engined nimrod group c car owned by amoc president viscount downe which came third in the manufacturers championship in both 1982 and 1983 . it also finished seventh in the 1982 24 hours of le mans race . however sales of production cars were now at an all time low of 30 cars produced in 1982 . 15 as trading became tighter in the petroleum market and aston martin was requiring more time and money gauntlett agreed to sell hays pace to the kuwait investment office in september 1983 . as aston martin required greater investment he also agreed to sell his share holding to american importer and greek shipping tycoon peter livanos who invested via his joint venture company with nick and john papanicolaou all inc. gauntlett remained chairman of the aml company 55 % owned by all with tickford a 50 50 venture between all and chi . the uneasy relationship was ended when all exercised options to buy a larger share in aml ; chi s residual shares were exchanged for chi s complete ownership of tickford which retained development of existing aston martin projects . in 1984 titan the main shipping company of the papanicolaou s was in trouble so livanos s father george bought out the papanicolaou s shares in all while gauntlett again became a shareholder with a 25 % holding in aml . the deal valued aston martin aml at 2 million the year it built its 10 000th car . 15 although as a result aston martin had to make 60 members of the workforce redundant gauntlett bought a stake in italian styling house zagato and resurrected its collaboration with aston martin . aston martin v8 vantage from the living daylights in 1986 gauntlett negotiated the return of fictional british secret agent james bond to aston martin . cubby broccoli had chosen to recast the character using actor timothy dalton in an attempt to re root the bond brand back to a more sean connery like feel . gauntlett supplied his personal pre production vantage for use in the filming of the living daylights