Aston and Bentley scrap over James Bond heritage
The Bond films have aligned Bond with the Aston brand
Author: Robin Brown
Published: 27 May 2008
The arrival of the latest james Bond novel, Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks, has created a spat between Bentley and Aston Martin about which marque is the true drive of choice for 007.
Faulks' new book has Bond driving a convertible Bentley - as in the original novels - but the films have shown Bond to have more of an affinity with Aston Martins - the DB5 in Goldfinger most famously.
But while Bentley has received the news warmly, Aston CEO Ulrich Bez has pointed out that the films showed that Bond required 'the best of British from his drives.
Bentley is owned by German manufacturer Volkswagen, while Aston is owned by a Saudi-backed consortium.
The last three Bond pictures have been sponsored by Ford, and have seen the British secret agent driving a range of Jaguars, Aston Martins and even a Ford Mondeo.
Now that Aston and Jaguar have been sold by Ford the rights issues are less clear, though both Bentley and Aston have denied that they paid to appear in either medium.
The new film Quantum of Solace sees Daniel Craig's Bond behind the wheel of an Aston DBS, though the stunt car was wrecked on its way to filming as its driver plunged the £160K supercar into Lake Garda.
Bond has been primarily associated with Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin, Bentley, BMW, Ford, General Motors, Lotus, Mercedes, Rolls-Royce and Saab throughout his screen and print appearances.
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Shooting on the new James Bond - Quantum of Solace - starring Daniel Craig has been halted after the second serious accident in a week seriously injured a stunt driver.
An Aston Martin DBS used in the new James Bond film Quantum of Solace has plunged into Italy's Lake Garda during production on the new movie, wrecking the £130K sports car.
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