Can an Austrian-built Aston Martin four-door ever make a fitting flagship for the unbroken, 97-year line of Aston sports cars that preceded it - every one of them designed and built in England?
In order to find out, Autocar visited Magna Steyr's factory in Graz, Austria.
Take a photo tour of the facility - which is fronted by a wide, stone-faced 'front office' facade reminiscent of the firm's much-admired Gaydon HQ - by clicking on Aston Martin Graz factory tour
During his tour, Steve Cropley encounters some of the 20 Gaydon engineers imported to Graz to ensure that Aston's quality standards are replicated in the Rapide.
Rapid project manager is also full of praise for the 220 technicians chose by Magna Steyr to build the car. "Magna already knows about building quality cars," he says.
Cropley also discovers that the Graz operation is almost a carbon copy of Gaydon, except that body assembly and final assembly are straight lines instead of U-shaps, one of the dictates of the space available.
Finally, he's given a ride in a prototype. "Could you go from London to Geneva in the back of this car?" someone asks as he steps out.
To find out his verdict and to read the full story of the factory tour, buy next week's Autocar magazine, on sale Wednesday.
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Re: Aston's new factory - pic special
due to the credit crunch the Gaydon fasctory is at about half output and it could have been built there after all. The management have cocked up basically, you should run several lines at each plant to allow for lifspan cycle and trends.by the way , the world is a funny place ie all BMW 4 cylinder engines are made at Hamms Hall and sent to Germanyand Ford engines in Wales and Dagenham.
Re: Aston's new factory - pic special
Re: Aston's new factory - pic special
It's not a remotely similar situation. Not even slightly. Spyker builds around 40 cars per year; Aston Martin builds 6000-7000 and the Rapide is hoped to be one of their best-selling models.