Aston Martin and Mercedes Benz have been exploring the possibility of working together to leverage the strength of one another. With volumes shrinking at the very high end of the automobile sector it makes sense for the top players to collaborate to keep the ultra luxury models commercially viable. There is news now that the two have signed a firm agreement to collaborate to the mutual benefit of both companies.
The Aston-built Maybach is reportedly set for unveiling this fall at the Frankfurt auto show. There’s also a chance, reportedly to be decided in the first half of this year, that Aston may look to Mercedes-Benz’s SLS platform as a basis for its next-generation sports cars, all of which are currently built on variations of its Ford-era VH platform, first introduced back in 2002.
The deal is not official, and in fact the reports were pooh-poohed early this week in Toronto by Joachim Schmidt, Mercedes global vice-president of sales and marketing, who said he had heard lots of reports of such an agreement, though he didn’t deny them either.
For its efforts Aston Martin will also be rewarded with access to the S-Class chassis to build a Rolls-Royce rivaling Lagonda sedan that would cost as much as $350,000. The British sports car maker may even use the chassis of the SLS to replace its current VH architecture, which is used for every model in Aston’s lineup.
The agreement has a long term view with the co-operation increasing where Aston Martin might develop a Lagonda on the S Class chassis to be positioned against Rolls Royce in the $350,000 price bracket. Aston Martin is using their VH architecture for all of their models in production and they might replace it with the SLS chassis. The Frankfurt Auto Show, this fall will see the first Maybach developed by Aston Martin.
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