Aston Martin drives in costliest car in India at Rs 20 cr

James Bond fans in India can now own the very car which the secret agent drove in many Ian Fleming flicks with Aston Martin announcing its entry here with prices going up to Rs 20 crore, arguably the costliest car to ever launched in the country.

The UK-based company on Friday vroomed into the domestic market with a bang, offering as many as 10 models from its portfolio at a price between Rs 1.35 crore and Rs 20 crore.

The super luxury cars will be sold as completely built units.

"India represents a new opportunity for us and as part of our programme of growing the reach of the global Aston Martin dealership network, this expansion brings our brand to a different audience in a new market," Aston Martin Chief Commercial Officer Michael van der Sande said.

Aston Martin will offer its whole range of cars, except the Cygnet, in the country. The range of cars include the basic V8 Vantage to the ultra-exclusive One-77 Hypercar.

The Gaydon, England-based luxury carmaker, has tied up with Performance Cars (a division of Infinity Cars) to open its first showroom here. The second dealership will be opened in New Delhi shortly.

Volkswagen Group company Bugatti Automobiles' super premium sports car 'Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport' is the most expensive car to hit the Indian roads so far with price starting at Rs 16 crore. It was launched here last October.

Last month, InterGlobe General Aviation introduced Swedish super luxury sports car Koenigsegg in India that carried a price tag of about Rs 12.5 crore.

Talking about its expectations from the Indian market, van der Sande said the company hopes to sell as many as 30 units by the end of this year in the country.

Explaining his enthusiasm about the potential of this market, van der Sande said, "Our decision to bring the Aston Martin brand here is driven by a strong level of interest from potential customers in an emerging luxury market."

The company expects its 25 per cent global sales to come from Asia and the Middle East in the next five years, he added.

Aston Martin customers will be able to test-drive selected models from the entire range of V8 Vantage Coupe and Roadster, V12 Vantage, DB9 Coupe and Volante, DBS Coupe and Volante and the four-door sports car Rapide.

The company has two facilities in England and Australia and manufactures around 8,000 units per year. The company has 134 dealers in 42 countries.

Established in 1914 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford, the company was part of the US car giant Ford from 1994 to 2007.

In 2007, a joint venture company, headed by David Richards and co-owned by Investment Dar and Adeem Investment of Kuwait and English businessman John Sinders, acquired Aston Martin from Ford for 479 million pounds.