Official: Aston Martin gets its hands on Mercedes AMG engines & Electronic Architecture

Aston Martin and Mercedes’ AMG have signed a letter of intent that will b ring AMG’s engines and electronic architecture to the next generation of Aston Martins.

Back in December we reported that Aston Martin had new investment from Investindustrial and wondered if that would mean – thanks to an existing relationship between Investindustrial and AMG – if we’d see Aston Martin finally getting access to AMG’s engines and platforms.

By May, things had moved on and it was clear that Aston Martin and AMG were in talks for Aston Martin to get access to their engines for the next generation of AML’s cars.

Now those talks have borne fruit and AMG and AML have signed a letter of intent for Aston Martin to “access significant Mercedes-AMG GmbH and Mercedes-Benz Cars’ resources, allowing the development of bespoke V8 powertrains and the use of certain components of electric/electronic (e/e) architecture.”

Interestingly, there’s no talk of V12 engines – which could mean Aston Martin are going to move from the current Ford V12 for the DB9 and Vanquish to a powerful V8 from AMG – and nor is there talk of sharing platforms.

Maybe more resources will be made available once the agreement is properly inked later this year, and maybe that will also mean Mercedes platforms entering the agreement too, which would be great news for Aston Martin.

Aston Martin’s Product DEvelopment Director: Ian Minards, said

We have selected AMG specifically as the basis for this powertrain development process.

Aston Martin sources cutting edge technology from key suppliers around the globe and the opportunity to include content from Mercedes-AMG GmbH in our next generation sports cars is, clearly, good news.

Working with Mercedes-AMG in this waywhile, of course, remaining independent and preserving the unique character and style of Aston Martin that has been the mainstay of the company throughout its 100-year history, points to a very bright future for the company as it starts its second century in business.

In exchange for the access to Mercedes AMG resources, Aston Martin has handed over a 5 per cent stake in AML to Daimler, but until the letter of intent turns in to a full-blown agreement, nether AMG or Aston are giving us more detail.

But however deep the final access to resources is, this is good news for the future of Aston Martin.