Ford to Sell Aston-Martin

As reported by the NY Times, Ford is selling Aston Martin. The sale of Aston Martin - a luxurious sports car brand with its roots in England - will raise an estimated $848 million.

To be honest, I'm a little surprised that Ford has elected to sell Aston Martin. Personal observations in Phoenix lead me to believe that the brand was quickly becoming popular and probably profitable - something that you'd expect Ford to cling to.

Aston Martin, which was profitable in 2006 as sales increased by 50 percent, to 6,500 vehicles, is the first nameplate sold by Ford since it announced a revamping plan last year that it calls the Way Forward.

Although I love Aston Martins and hope that the brand doesn't change too much, I think these kind of major changes are very important if Detroit is going to weather this storm. Obviously the status quo isn't working. If Detroit is ever going to be the leader again something needs to change.

It'll start with the sale of some major divisions, but eventually the engineering will have to change too. With the caveat that Detroit actually survives, I'm really looking forward to all these changes.