The Rapide is currently built under licence at the Austrian Magna Steyr factory, where it entered full production in 2010 following a feasibility study that highlighted constraints at Gaydon at that time.
Dr Ulrich Bez, Aston Martin chief executive, said: ‘In 2008, we had facility restrictions at Gaydon, which indicated that production of the Rapide at Gaydon would likely compromise production of our other cars. We were not prepared to do this.
‘Now, three years on, things are very different — Gaydon is more established, more flexible and more efficient.’
Work on readying Aston Martin’s Gaydon headquarters for the Rapide will begin immediately, with a view to production commencing in the second half of 2012.
‘While our overall volume has not changed significantly, we now produce a far richer model mix — eight model lines [plus five variants] compared with three model lines [plus two variants] in 2008 — so Rapide production is now possible,’ said Bez.
Other models produced at Gaydon are the One-77, the DBS, DB9, the Virage, the V8 Vantage, the V8 Vantage S, the V12 Vantage and the Cygnet.
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