Aston Martin to build cars outside the UK

As strange as it sounds but the day when an Aston Martin is manufactured in a country outside the UK may not be that far away. According to latest reports, officials are currently investigating the feasibility of manufacturing outside of the UK for the first time in the marque’s 93 year history.

Documents seen by the Financial Times are said to have revealed plans to outsource production of a new model to a European coachbuilder and that several companies had already been contacted.

A person close to the project has revealed that a final decision will be announced in coming weeks, with Pininfarina, Karmann, Magna Steyr and Finland’s Valmet all in the running.

The new model is likely to be the upcoming Rapide four-door coupe, due to hit the market in late 2009. Aston’s Gaydon facility is already nearing capacity trying to meet demand for the V8 Vantage, DB9 and DBS and there a several additional variants of these scheduled to be introduced over the coming years.