Aston Martin opens Cologne plant

Aston Martin officially opened its dedicated engine plant in Cologne at a ceremony today. All engines for the Aston Martin range – Vanquish S, DB9 and V8 Vantage (due for launch in mid-2005) - will now be produced at this new plant.

Aston Martin plans to make around 5000 cars a year by the end of 2005. This is the first time Aston Martin has had a purpose-built engine production facility.

The new facility is located in a separate building at Ford’s Niehl engine plant.

It is staffed by a total of 100 specially trained Aston Martin personnel who have been undertaking a six-month training course since the initial plans to open the building were finalised.

Dr Ulrich Bez, Aston Martin’s chief executive, said: “The new Aston Martin engine plant will allow us to have greater flexibility than ever before. One of the virtues of our company is being able to react quickly to what our customers want. We now have control of the production of our engines, so can consider doing smaller runs of special high performance versions."