Miller Motorcars history

CH Industrials plc (car components) bought a 10% share in AML. But in July 1980, blaming a recession, AML cut back their workforce of 450 by more than 20% making those people redundant.

In January 1981, there having been no satisfactory revival partners, Alan Curtis and Peter Sprague announced they had never intended to maintain a long-term financial stake in Aston Martin Lagonda and it was to be sold to Pace Petroleum's Victor Gauntlett.

In 1982, Aston Martin was granted a Royal Warrant of Appointment by the Prince of Wales.

As trading became tighter in the petroleum market, and Aston Martin was requiring more time and money, Gauntlett agreed to sell Hays/Pace to the Kuwait Investment Office in September 1983.

In 1984, Papanicolaou's Titan shipping business was in trouble so Livanos's father George bought out the Papanicolaou's shares in ALL, while Gauntlett again became a shareholder with a 25% holding in AML. The deal valued Aston Martin/AML at £2 million, the year it built its 10,000th car.

The Barn Miami, a Florida specialty dealer in unique and exotic cars, has just listed this 9,000-mile, two-owner, 1985 Aston Martin Lagonda.

1986 saw the V8 Vantage Zagato produced as the collaboration was revived.

Despite problems over the previous acquisition of AC Cars, Hayes saw the potential of the brand and the discussion resulted in Ford taking a share holding in September 1987.

In 1988, having produced some 5,000 cars in 20 years, a revived economy and successful sales of limited edition Vantage, and 52 Volante Zagato coupés at £86,000 each; Aston Martin finally retired the ancient V8 and introduced the Virage range.

Although Gauntlett was contractually to stay as chairman for two years, his racing interests took the company back into sports car racing in 1989 with limited European success.

However, with engine rule changes for the 1990 season and the launch of the new Volante model, Ford provided the limited supply of Cosworth engines to the Jaguar cars racing team.

As the entry-level DB7 would require a large engineering input, Ford agreed to take full control of Aston Martin, and Gauntlett handed over Aston Martin's chairmanship to Hayes in 1991.

In 1992, the high-performance variant of the Virage called the Vantage was announced, and the following year Aston Martin renewed the DB range by announcing the DB7.

Sir David Brown died in September 1993 in Monte Carlo.

In 1994, Ford opened a new factory at Banbury Road in Bloxham to manufacture the DB7.

In 1995, Aston Martin produced a record 700 cars.

2001 saw two landmarks for the business with the 5,000th Aston Martin DB7 being produced and the launch of the V12 Vanquish, a car that lead a new era of technology and appeared with Pierce Brosnan in Die Another Day.

In 2002, the 6,000th was produced, exceeding production of all previous DB models.

2003 also saw the opening of the Gaydon factory, the first purpose-built factory in Aston Martin's history.

In October 2004, Aston Martin set up the dedicated 12,500 square metres (135,000 sq ft) AMEP engine production plant within the Ford Germany Niehl, Cologne plant.

Expected to have few changes before its introduction in 2005, the Vantage brought back the classic V8 engine to allow Aston Martin to compete in a larger market.

After suggestions of selling Jaguar Cars, Land Rover, or Volvo Cars were weighed, Ford announced in August 2006 it had engaged UBS AG to sell all or part of Aston Martin at auction.

Between June and August 2007, the V8 Vantage took part in the first east-west crossing of the Asian Highway.

In December 2008, Aston Martin announced it would cut its workforce from 1,850 to 1,250 due to the economic recession.

On top of these dramatic engineering and product developments 2009 also saw Aston Martin unveil the ultimate Aston Martin, the One-77, the most powerful naturally aspirated car in the world.

Launched to acclaim, on its debut the One-77 won the design award in the Concepts and Prototypes Class.In 2010 with the unveiling of the Cygnet concept car at the Geneva Motor Show, positive customer reaction saw the car confirmed for production in the same year.

Italian private equity fund Investindustrial signed a deal on 6 December 2012 to buy a 37.5% stake in Aston Martin, investing £150 million as a capital increase.

In April 2013, it was reported that Doctor Ulrich Bez would be leaving his role as the chief executive officer to take up a more ambassadorial position.

On 2 September 2014, Aston Martin announced it had appointed the Nissan executive Andy Palmer as the new CEO with Ulrich Bez retaining a position as non-executive chairman.

As sales had been declining from 2015, Aston Martin sought new customers (particularly wealthy female buyers) with introducing concept cars like the DBX SUV along with track focused cars like the Vulcan.

The company made a pre-tax profit of £87 million compared with a £163 million loss in 2016.

Aston Martin returned to profit in 2017 after selling over 5,000 cars.

The company was the subject of an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange on 3 October 2018.

In June 2019, the company opened its new 36-hectare (90-acre) factory in St Athan for the production of its first-ever SUV the DBX. The factory was finally completed and officially opened on 6 December 2019.

On 31 January 2020 it was announced that Canadian billionaire and investor Lawrence Stroll was leading a consortium who will pay £182 million in return for 25% stake in the company.