Aston Martin Lagonda Limited is a British luxury performance car manufacturer. Their headquarters are based in Gaydon, England, and the company's name is derived from one of the company's founders, Lionel Martin, and from the Aston Hill speed hillclimb located near Aston Clinton in Buckinghamshire.

Aston Martin's are most well known for being prestigious luxury cars owned by the rich and famous. Perhaps most famously, Aston Martin is a favorite automobile of none other than 007 himself, Mr. James Bond. Of course, Aston Martin didn't start out so prestigiously. Similar to most other car brands, AM had to pay their dues.

Aston Martin was founded in 1913 by Robert Bamford and Lionel Martin. The two had met the previous year while selling cars made by Singer. Martin frequently raced specials at Aston Hill, and the two eventually began to manufacture their own cars.

The first Aston Martin was created by fitting a four-cylinder Coventry-Simplex engine to a 1908 Isotta-Fraschini. They purchased a location at Henniker Place in Kensington and produced their first car in 1915. Although, all manufacturing was brought to a halt at the start of the First World War when both Bamford and Martin joined the armed forced.

After the war was over, the two rejoined and started where they left off. They were just getting underway when Bamford abruptly left in 1920, but the company was saved by funding from Count Louis Zborowski.

In 1922, Bamford would return to help Martin build cars to compete in the French Grand Prix, and the two would go on to produce approximately 55 cars in total. Aston Martin eventually went bankrupt in 1924, so it was purchased by Lady Charnwood who put her son John Benson on the board. But only a short year later, the company failed again, and the factory closed in 1926, causing Lionel Martin to leave.

Later that year, Bert Bertelli, Bill Renwick, and other investors took control of the company and named it Aston Martin Motors. Bertelli and Renwick developed an overhead cam four-cylinder engine known as the Buzzbox.

They had planned to sell this engine to various car manufacturers, but realizing that the Aston Martin car was no longer in production, they decided to capitalize on the name and produce cars for themselves. Through 1926 and 1937, Bertelli was the technical director of Aston Martin, and subsequently designed all Aston Martin cars during this period. Most were open two seater sports cars. The company continued to experience ups and downs over the next decade.

David Brown bought the company in 1947, and ushered in the classic era of Aston Martin cars. Most cars during the Brown era were established in the racing world. For the next two decades, Aston Martin's name greatly appreciated in value, as well as the cars they sold. But in 1972, the company experienced another financial crisis and was sold to a Birmingham-based consortium.

It was then resold in 1975 to Peter Sprague and George Minden, who produced the V8 Vantage in 1977, the Volante in 88, and the Bulldog in 80. The company changed hands again shortly thereafter, and was purchased by Ford, who placed Aston in the Premier Automotive Group.

In 2007, Ford sold Aston Martin to a consortium led by Prodrive chairman David Richards for $848-million. Prodrive still owns Aston Martin today, and plans to continue the tradition of prestigious car manufacturing.