Richards buys Aston Martin but denies financial involvement of Prodrive

Prodrive chairman and chief executive, David Richards, is heading a consortium which was today, Monday 12 March, announced as the new owners of Aston Martin. Richards is involved in the consortium on purely a personal basis. Prodrive has no financial involvement in the deal.

David Richards, 54, founded Prodrive in 1984, and has turned the British business into one of the world’s leading motorsport and automotive technology groups.

Today, Prodrive runs the Aston Martin Racing team in international sports car series, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans; the Subaru World Rally Team, in the World Rally Championship; and Ford Performance Racing in the Australian V8 Supercar series. Prodrive also has an extensive global automotive technology division which develops innovative road car technologies and niche models for the world’s vehicle manufacturers.

In 2008, Prodrive enters the Formula One World Championship with its own team. This will make it the ninth British-based team on the F1 grid.