The launch of the 6.0n liter V12 DB9 can be regarded as marking the ground up rebuilding of Aston Martin. In 2000 Aston martin got new chief executive in the shape of Dr Ulrich Bez, who had previously been research and development of Porsche. Bez halted work a new compact, mid engine Aston Martin and on a front engined replacement for the ageing DB7. Instead, Bez instigated a new strategy, which would see all future Aston based on the same aluminum platform. This new chassis was called the VH (vertical/ Horizontal) and was a cheaper version of the Vanquish chassis that could produced in three different lengths. The first fruit of the plan was the DB9, which was unveiled in September 2003 after a gestation of just 36 months. As part of the wider Ford ‘Premier Automotive Group’, Aston was able to tap into engineering expertise form the Ford companies. For example, Volvo was responsible for the DB9’s airbag and safety systems and the car was also crash tested at Volvo’s engineering centre. Ford also invested in a brand new brand new factory (the first in the company’s history) and HQ for the company to the land Rover engineering centre.
The DB9 was initially styled by lan Callum, though Aston’s new chief designer Henrik Fisker influenced the final product. At the launched, Fisker said that Aston’s are not edgy cars…we wanted to the DB9 to look as if was milled form a solid piece of aluminum’. Huge strides were made inside, where the elegant dashboard, aluminum switchgear and the crystal glass starting button were a league ahead of anything Aston had done before.
