Aston Martin has posted a video from CEO Dr. Ulrich Bez’s recent Nürburgring “race meeting” with Toyota President Akio Toyoda:
This video only strengthens my suspicion that the two automakers are cooking up another collaboration. This led me to look back at the story behind the Aston Martin Cygnet, which was the result of Lexus & Aston Martin sharing a garage at the Nürburgring — here’s a quote from Hans Greimel’s excellent Automotive News article about Akio Toyoda:
Another CEO friend is Aston Martin’s Bez. Toyoda and Bez met at Germany’s Nurburgring 24-hour race in 2007. And the two have actually been behind the wheel racing against each other.
“As car-loving drivers, Mr. Bez and I got on well,” Toyoda recalls in a June blog entry written under his “Morizo” pseudonym. “Ever since, we see each other at the Nurburgring race every year and have a nice car chat. It was out of this background that iQ-based (Aston Martin) Cygnet was born.”
If the Cygnet is what happens when the two companies share a garage, just imagine what could happen as a result of sharing racecars. Very excited to follow this story.
(Thanks KryptonZone!)
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