Secretary Of State Visits Aston Martin

GAYDON, UNITED KINGDOM – Aug 24, 2010: UK Secretary of State for Business, Innovation & Skills, Vince Cable today made his first visit to Aston Martin’s global headquarters at Gaydon, Warwickshire and in doing so fulfilling a long-held ambition to drive one of the company’s cars.

As part of the informal visit, Mr Cable met members of the Aston Martin executive team and enjoyed a brief glimpse of the company’s Gaydon facility before he drove the company’s flagship DBS model – one of the cars built at the Warwickshire factory.

Aston Martin employs around 1,300 people in the UK – the majority of which are based at the Gaydon facility which has been the British company’s global headquarters since 2003. The company designs, develops and engineers a range of critically acclaimed sports cars including the DBS, DB9, Vantage and new four-door Rapide, with exports accounting for around 75% of the company’s annual sales.