The Italian group beat Indian tractor maker Mahindra and Mahindra in a two-way battle to invest in the company, whose sports cars were made famous by their appearance in James Bond spy films The cash injection will help Aston Martin better compete with Volkswagen's Bentley and rival UK luxury car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover, which was bought by India's Tata Motors in 2008 and has since seen huge sales growth, especially in China.
The 99-year-old maker of the DB9 and Vanquish sports cars has struggled in recent years. Last week, it said it sold 2,340 cars in the nine months to September 30, 19 percent down on 2011. Investindustrial's senior principal Andrea Bonomi said the group hoped to transform Aston Martin in a similar way to its revamp of luxury Italian motorcycle maker Ducati by expanding Aston's model range and strengthening its global dealership network. Owned by Italy's Bonomi family, Investindustrial bought Ducati in 2006 and sold it for about 860 million euros last April to Volkswagen's Audi division.