DETROIT MOTOR SHOW SPEECH – MONDAY 5TH JANUARY 2004
05 January 2004 - Aston Martin

It’s appropriate that Aston Martin begins a new year with a new model. This is our sixth in just 28 months, which means on average more than two cars a year from tiny Aston Martin.

However, I would like to give you a quick resume as to what we have achieved last year.

We met our targets and produced 1500 cars. On top of that we began delivery of our special DB7 Zagato…. and mainly to the US… the stunning DB AR1 models in lots of sensational colour specifications.

We created a sales record of more than 500 cars in the US representing 33% of our production volume.

Here at Detroit, I gave you a preview of our V8 Vantage model that goes into production in 2005.

Judging by your response and the tremendous reaction from our customers – we have got something pretty special. I know the car best as a running prototype and I can tell you, it will be special.

We opened our first ever purpose-built headquarters in Gaydon in September and are now prepared for production of the Aston Martin DB9 Coupe, which is here in the United States for the first time.

The press will be able to drive the car in March and deliveries of the Coupe will start in late spring.

Our initial look at the order books shows we have more than a year’s worth of confirmed sales already.

I have driven the car for 2000 miles over Christmas on country roads and at high speeds on the German Autobahn. You will like it!

Our dealer expansion has continued at the same pace as our model introduction.

We closed last year with a 100-strong network around the world, more than 30 with our new CI and the others in the process of doing so.

Just before Christmas we announced Aston Martin would be returning to international motor sport using the DB9 as the base car.

We are confident that we are going to have a very competitive package.

My team and I are really looking forward to seeing Aston Martin again at Le Mans in 2005 or at American Le Mans Series in the US.

The message therefore is this – quite simply…with the DB9 we are back on the road and back on the track, back to the roots of the company. We have given to our history a future.

We have completed the first phase to get Aston Martin to where we want it to be – the world’s most prestigious and exclusive sports car company.

The job is not finished… but now that we have started this momentum… we are going to maintain it.

The next phase begins today with the introduction of the Aston Martin DB9 Volante.

CAR IS REVEALED

Ladies and Gentlemen, the coolest car on the planet, the Aston Martin DB9 Volante.

It’s the 13th convertible from Aston Martin and joins a prestigious line-up of drop-heads that stretches back to the DB2 of 1950.

However, this will be the first convertible ever to use Aston Martin’s unique VH Platform Architecture. All that you can see and what is underneath the skin is special – it is not based on a high volume car platform.

It has all the traditional styling cues you would expect from Aston Martin. It’s perfectly proportioned from every angle in open and closed condition.

It has all the tension, power and dynamics a sports car needs.

It’s a forward looking design and not a retro, it is unmistakeably an Aston Martin.

Like the DB9 Coupe, it has outstanding passive safety features developed in conjunction with our friends at Volvo. Power for the Volante is more than enough and it will be offered with a six-speed automatic and Touchtronic transmission which will be a benchmark for sports cars.

Today I can reveal that the price for the DB9 Coupe in the US will be $155,000 and the Volante will be $168,000.

Our customers can expect to take delivery of the Volante this Summer.

As you now see Aston Martin has a truly exciting future that begins today with the Aston Martin DB9.

Please do come down at the end of today’s programme or to our stand and see the car for yourself.

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