Contrary to rumors of a complete sale, legendary Italian design house Zagato, the company behind astounding works like the recent Aston Martin V12 Zagato and Alfa Romeo Zagato TZ3, has formed a partnership with CPP Global Holdings Ltd. CPP is a British coachbuilder owned in part by Russian millionaire Vladimir Antonov and is the recent buyer of Spyker’s former sports car division as well as off-road company Bowler.

Brendan O’Toole, CPP’s founder, and Andrea Zagato, the chief of Zagato, have confirmed today that the two firms have been successfully operating a joint venture.

The joint venture--registered in Italy as CPP Milan--was established in July 2010, combining the resources of the British coachbuilding specialist and the Milan-based design center that operates under the license of the brand Zagato.

In recent years, several specialist automotive design houses and coachbuilders have closed or been acquired by global high volume vehicle manufacturers. CPP and Zagato formed the CPP Milan joint venture to ensure that each could assure their long-term independence and take advantage of the opportunities left by the exit of their competitors from the industry. One of the first fruits of the joint-venture was the Aston Martin V12 Zagato, which is now destined for production.

The move is a bit of a surprise, but on the other hand, is hardly surprising. Zagato is a small company and it, too, recently announced a partnership with Aston Martin.

CPP, meanwhile, helps build the Aston Martin One-77 supercar and was also responsible for the Ferrari 575 GTZ and Bentley GTZ limited edition Zagato cars, so all three companies have a deep-rooted relationship.

Now throw in CPP’s ownership of Spyker’s former sports car division and we can only start to imagine what wild and exotic supercars could be developed in the near future.