Aston Martin and AMG – the wholly owned performance arm of Mercedes Benz, have announced an intent to partner on future sports car development. While definitive agreements will only be signed later this year, all we know for now is that the next generation of Aston Martins will be AMG-powered.

Aston Martin weighs up the benefits

Engine development is an expensive business, especially for small-scale manufacturers like Aston Martin. The cost of developing and building engines that will meet emission standards, fuel consumption and levels of refinement to satisfy future regulation and demand will have made partnership with an established player an attractive option.

And to be fair, AMG is not exactly a shoddy partner. The company’s one man, one engine philosophy is responsible for some fantastic, powerful engines, which certainly won’t be out of place in a supercar. Even Pagani think so – AMG V12’s have powered every Zonda since inception, and now every Huayra as well.

Mercedes Benz Cars is also part of the deal; they’ll be supplying e/e (electronic/electric) components to the iconic British Brand, now owned by a Kuwaiti consortium. As part of the deal, Daimler AG, the German brand’s parent company, will receive up to 5% equity in Aston Martin, with no cash changing hands.

We would speculate that Mercedes new generation of twin-turbo V8s will find their way into the next range of Aston Martins, possibly with a naturally aspirated V12 being reserved for the range topping future DBS or Vanquish.

Ola Källenius, Head of Mercedes-AMG GmbH: “We are proud to work with Aston Martin and provide them with powertrain and e/e components for their forthcoming sports cars. This is proof of AMG’s technological and performance expertise and a real win-win situation for both sides.”

Aston Martin Product Development Director Ian Minards said: “We have selected AMG specifically as the basis for this powertrain development process. Aston Martin sources cutting edge technology from key suppliers around the globe and the opportunity to include content from Mercedes-AMG GmbH in our next generation sports cars is, clearly, good news.”For competitive reasons, no other details have been made public.