Kuwait money to revive Aston Martin Lagonda flop

Kuwait money to revive Aston Martin Lagonda flop

Judged to be one of the Worst cars of All Time, and out of production since 1989, Aston Martin now plans to revive its Lagonda saloon.

September 2, 2008 8:14 by kippreport

Aston Martin plans to revive its infamous Lagonda brand – judged 28th on Time magazine’s 50 Worst Cars of All Time. The multimillion dollar project will be backed by a consortium of Kuwait’s Investment Dar and Adeem Investment, according to the The Times.

The brand has a less than stellar past (in 2001 Auto Express judged it the 12th biggest motoring flop, one place behind the DeLorean), but Aston Martin are convinced a remake will open up new markets and broaden its offer from pure sports cars.

A new concept will be shown at next year Geneva Motor Show with plans for production by 2012. It is unclear whether production will take place in the UK, or at a contract manufacturer. Retail is expected around $200,000.

Ulrich Bez, the chief executive of Aston Martin, told The Times: “Aston Martins are currently available in 32 countries, but we remain limited in our market penetration by the pure character of our cars – sports cars. We have now investigated and concluded that the revival of the Lagonda brand would allow us to develop cars which can have a different character than a sports car, and therefore offer a perfect synergy.”

The paper says the company hopes that it can make more headway into growing markets such as Russia, where the weather does not favour sports cars. Dr Bez said that Lagonda could more than triple Aston Martin’s geographic markets, taking it into more than 100 countries.