Most consumers rightfully associate the Aston Martin brand with spectacular cars like the V8 Vantage Volante and the V12 Vanquish, which, let’s face it became even more popular thanks to the James Bond saga. But as much as the association with the most famous British spy in the world has helped the Aston Martin brand, it wasn’t these cars that saved the sports carmaker from ruin and oblivion. In fact, the Aston Martin savior is a car that borrowed the rear lights from Mazda 323F, the chassis from Jaguar XJS and the mirrors from Citroën CX. Nothing so far screams luxury about this automobile, but when you put all elements and features together, you get a beautiful vehicle that shattered sales and put Aston Martin back in the spotlight. Naturally, the car is the Aston Martin DB7, which arrived at a critical time for the British company.

The DB7 is considered Aston Martin’s knight in shining armor because it helped build a resilient, powerful company at a time when no one was believing in the British automaker anymore. With lukewarm sales and earnings, the company’s future came under question and several Ford executives wanted to kill off the British brand because they didn’t see a future for it. However, all this changed with the arrival of the DB7.

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The Ford-Aston Martin Partnership

Aston Martin raindrops
via: Aston Martin

In 1987, Aston Martin desperately needed emergency cash to continue operations and a lifeline came from Ford Motor Company. The American automaker agreed to buy 75 percent of Aston Martin shares. Evidently, the deal helped Aston Martin get access to funding to expand its operations, while Ford secured a premium positioning for its brand. Needless to say, that both brands won from the high-low association: Ford enhanced its own brand’s prestige and Aston Martin got the cash it so desperately needed.

At the time of the deal, The New York Times noted that the Ford-Aston Martin partnership followed the trend of American automakers closing deals with famous European car companies.

“In April the Chrysler Corporation added Italy’s Nuova Automobili F. Lamborghini to its Maserati affiliate in April. The General Motors Corporation owns Group Lotus, known for its Grand Prix race cars and a sleek sports car. Last year Ford lost out to Fiat S.p.A., the Italian carmaker, in a bid for Alfa Romeo,” said The New York Times.

Building Aston Martin’s “Most Developed Model Yet”

Aston_Martin_DB7
Rudolf Stricker via Wikimedia Commons

Instead of letting the Aston Martin team continue on the same path, Ford took an unusual approach and went all in, trying to revolutionize the brand from within. As such, Walter Hayes, the PR genius who convinced Henry Ford II to take a stake in Aston Martin, pushed for the creation of a budget-friendly and smaller Aston Martin car that would boost sales and profit margins. But in order to break the market, the automakers needed a fantastic car that could impress even the biggest naysayers, so 30 prototypes were built for the DB7. According to Aston Martin and Autocar, this made the DB7, “the company’s most developed model yet.”

How The DB7 Saved Aston Martin: The Decisive Role Of Tom Walkinshaw Racing and TWR’s Designer Ian Callum

Silver 1994 Aston Martin DB7 2-Door Coupe
Aston Martin

If there is a name that is forever connected to the DB7, that’s the one of designer Ian Callum. A key moment in Aston Martin’s past occurred when Ford tasked Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) with building a more accessible and modern Aston Martin car and TWR approached Ian Callum.

When Jaguar discarded its research on the XJ41 coupe/XJ42 roadster project, Aston Martin’s team saw an opportunity to kick off Project XX. Accordingly, Callum was brought in to reskin the XJS and adapt the shape to Aston Martin’s needs. Fast-forward to 1993 when the DB7 was presented at Geneva Motor Show and the public went crazy for it, naming the DB7 the most beautiful car of the era. Needless to say, that TWR and Ian Callum saved the day and secured Aston Martin’s future.

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How The DB7 Saved Aston Martin: Moving Production To A New Plant

DB7
via Wikimedia Commons

The DB7 represented a more modern Aston Martin brand, so keeping production in the outdated Newport Pagnell factory was no longer an option. Not only that, but demand for the DB7 was so high that Aston Martin was forced to move production to a purpose-built facility in Bloxham, Oxfordshire, where the two-seat sports car Jaguar XJ220 used to be manufactured. As per Autocar, in Bloxham, the British automaker could take advantage of “modern build methods and materials.”

Without a doubt, switching the team and the production facility, and borrowing parts from other cars might seem like unorthodox solutions, but they worked well for Aston Martin and the DB7. In a decade, between 1994 and 2004, more than 7,100 DB7s were retailed, making it one of the most successful Aston Martin models up to date.