The latest tie-up between Mercedes and Aston Martin will have the British company borrowing even more tech from the German one. The deal has Aston gaining access to Mercedes’ hybrid and electric powertrains, but that’s not all Aston will get. Aston will continue receiving AMG-sourced engines, though the new deal gives the company “bespoke” mills this time around.
According to Autocar, the news came during the Financial Times Future of the Car Summit from Aston chairman Lawrence Stroll. The new AMG mills, which will be “bespoke manufactured in Germany,” will also feature unique output and torque characteristics, which means we could see Aston’s mills making more or less power than their Mercedes counterparts. The previous AMG-sourced mills were off-the-shelf products from the high-performance company.
37 Photos
News of the new, bespoke AMG engines comes after the automaker announced it’d replace its AMG-sourced V8 for a proprietary electrified V6. However, the company is in transition. Earlier this year, Aston CEO Andy Palmer stepped down, replaced by Mercedes-AMG CEO Tobias Moers. The new deal with Mercedes transpired five months later and sets the British automaker up to deliver its first electric cars by 2026.
The deal between Mercedes and Aston isn’t without its strings. The partnership between the two dates back to 2013, with the latest deal seeing Mercedes increase its holding equity in Aston from 2.6 percent to its 20-percent maximum equity holding. However, if you’re expecting a German takeover, don’t. The company said it has no plans to increase its holdings in Aston.
The extent of the deal and what will come of it has to be seen. Last month, a strange test vehicle popped up, putting a Mercedes E63 body atop an Aston DBX. It was a strange sighting, though one Aston probably took to hide whatever it was developing – like its new, bespoke AMG mills.