Production plot

The Aston Martin DB7 will be built as a follow-on to the Jaguar XJ220 in a converted mill at Bloxham, near Banbury in Oxfordshire. Of the 125 people employed there today, about 100 are directly involved with the XJ220 and this number is likely to be increased in 1994, when production of the DB7 is raised towards a maximum of 13 per working week.

As with the XJ220, though, Bloxham is an assembly area. The Jaguar’s bodies come from Abbey Panels in Exhall, Coventry, but the Aston Martin’s will come from Motor Panels (Coventry) Limited in Holbrook Lane, Coventry.

Motor Panels has a five-year, £20 million contract with Aston Martin Oxford Limited, and indirectly this may benefit MG. Motor Panels opened negotiations with the Rover Group in March, through the subsidiary Mayflower company, to put an affordable MG into volume production.

The Aston Martin’s engines will be built by Jaguar under contract to AMOL, probably at Castle Bromwich. Development work was carried out by TWR’s powertrain division headed by Allan Scott, in co-operation with Aston Martin’s engine development department headed by Arthur Wilson.