Global luxury carmaker Aston Martin announced on Thursday that it is planning to sign a deal with Daimler's Mercedes-AMG GmbH unit for the release of a new line of bespoke v8 engines. The partnership is set to be finalized before the end of 2013.
Under the agreement, Daimler will acquire a non-voting company stake of about 5% in Aston Martin, which earned its global reputation after the 1963 release of the DB5 sports car shown in the early James Bond movies.
The deal was made three months after the sale of a 37.5% stake in the 100-year-old British firm to Italy-based private equity company Investindustrial for US$241 million. The sale was made possible by a capital increase agreed upon by Investment Dar and Kuwaiti compatriot Adeem Investment Co, the carmaker's majority investor.
"The opportunity to include content from Mercedes-AMG in our next generation sports cars is, clearly, good news," said Aston Martin product development director in a statement. "This points to a very bright future for the company as it starts its second century in business," he supplied.
The collaboration with Mercedes could replace the British firm's earlier engine supply agreement with automaker Ford, which previously owned Aston Martin until 2007.
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