Projo Cars Blog

For my research into Wednesday's article on Bob Roy's 1988 Buick Reatta, Roy leant me his copy of the February 1988 issue of Automobile.

The magazine not only contained a review of the Reatta, but also an article about the Detroit Three buying exclusive European carmakers.

Talk about a different era!

Titled "Why is Detroit buying the Grand Marques?" it discusses the 1986 acquisition of Lotus by General Motors; Ford's purchase of Aston Martin in 1987; and, most improbable of all given recent history, Chrysler's acquisition of Lamborghini, also in 1987.

None of the purchases worked and the companies were sold following years of losses. Typical of the rarified world of specialty car makers, the paper trail of subsequent owners is pretty arcane.

Lotus
Take Lotus, the iconic British racing and sports car company. GM sold the company in 1993 to A.B.C.N. Holdings of Luxembourg which was controlled by Italian businessman Romano Artioli.

Artioli also owned Bugatti, which went belly up in 1995 and was subsequently sold to Audi. To raise money, Artioli sold a majority share in Lotus to Proton (Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional Bhd) of Malaya in 1996.

Aston Martin
Aston Martin has ended up owned by an English group of investors backed by Kuwaiti money. Ford had placed the company in its Premier Automotive Group which at one time included Lincoln, Jaguar, Mercury and Land Rover.

However, in 2006 Ford decided to sell Aston Martin as oart of its restructuring and the company sold in 1987 to a group made up of British auto racing tycoon David Richards, American banker and Aston Martin collector John Sinders and two Kuwaiti companies, Investment Dar and Adeem Investment.

Lamborghini
Meanwhile, Lamborghini's road to its present ownership by Audi has been arcane in the extreme. It started back in 1974 when founder Ferrucio Lamborghini sold out his remaining interest to Swiss businessmen and retired.

The company entered bankruptcy in 1978 and in 1980 the Mimran brothers were appointed to run the company. They invested money in a new factory before selling it to Chrysler which was then headed by auto legend Lee Iacocca.

In 1994, Chrysler sold Lamborghini to three Indonesia companies: Megatech,V'Power and Mycom. They sold it to Audi in 1998.

Survival
Given their ups and downs, it's actually surprising that all three marques still exist. Think of all the marques, some like Studebaker and Pontiac very long lived, that have disappeared into the shadows of history.

At any one time in their recent past any one of these companie could have closed up.

Their markets are so small and specialized. But maybe that is what has kept them alive - investors with deep pockets who not only see business opportunities but are drawn to something very special.

"The dream for me was to own an Aston Martin, never to own part of the company," John Sinders told the BBC after the acquisition in 2007. "It's a dream come true."

Peter C.T. Elsworth

 Tags  aston martin lamborghini lotus

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