Ford Motor Co. sells Aston Martin on March 12, 2007, to a consortium of investors in a deal that valued the British brand at $925 million.
The buyers included British racing mogul David Richards and a pair of Kuwaiti companies, Investment Dar and Adeem Investment.
Ford had owned Aston Martin, a longtime star of James Bond films, since 1987.
Ford, which had placed Aston Martin up for sale in August 2006 as part of a broad restructuring, retained 15 percent of the marque, valued at about $77 million at the time. Ford had posted a loss of $12.7 billion in 2006.
The sale was part of Ford's plan to focus on core automotive operations and introduce new or redesigned cars and trucks at a faster pace.
Aston Martin had been one of Ford's few profitable brands in the early 2000s, although its low sales volume made it more a source of cachet than earnings.
The sale marked the return of Aston Martin to British ownership at a time when other famed British automotive brands had fallen into foreign hands. Ford eventually sold its two remaining British brands, Jaguar and Land Rover.
Daimler acquired a small stake in Aston Martin in 2013 as part of a technical partnership.
Today, under CEO Andy Palmer, Aston Martin is accelerating product development and seeking partners, namely in China, to develop electric vehicles.
The Lagonda badge is being revived as Aston Martin's electric-only brand. Aston Martin bought Lagonda, which was established in 1904, in 1947 but stopped building Lagonda models in 1958. The name has been used on just two Aston Martin-designed production cars since.
