Aston Martin reportedly could fetch $1.2B

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Bidding for Ford Motor unit Aston Martin had been particularly fierce and there was a strong chance that the car line made famous by James Bond movies could sell for more than $1.2 billion, according to a published report.

The Sunday Times of London reported that Simon Halabi, a secretive Syrian-born billionaire who recently bought the Esporta, a British fitness-club chain, has emerged as a surprise bidder on the short list.

The Aston Martin DB9.

The Sunday Times' Rich List puts Halabi's net worth at £2 billion, or about $3.9 billion.

It also reported that many of the original interested parties - including former Ford CEO Jac Nasser and Bernard Arnault and Albert Frere, two of Europe's most prominent billionaires, are no longer in the bidding. Nasser was forced out as CEO of Ford by Chairman Bill Ford in October 2001. Ford held the CEO spot until this September.

Ford Motor (Charts) announced in August that it was putting the high-end British sports car line with small sales and large losses up for sale, as it attempts to trim companywide losses.

Ford took full control of Aston Martin in 1994. Its sales are so small that they are not even reported by Ford when it releases its other vehicle sales figures. George Pipas, Ford's U.S. sales analysis manager, said that when he once asked the Aston Martin managing director why the brand does not make a sales report, he replied, "A gentleman never counts his change."

Aston Martin spokesman Geno Effler said the brand had sales of about 4,500 vehicles last year, with about 1,300 of those in the United States. That was the brand's best year in terms of U.S. sales and about double the 2004 U.S. sales, he said.

The company's classic DB5 model appeared in three early Bond films, "Goldfinger," "Thunderball," and "On Her Majesty's Secret Service." After an 18-year absence from the Bond films, the brand returned to the film series when the Aston Martin V8 Volante made an appearance in "The Living Daylights" in 1987. The V-12 Vanquish appeared in "Die Another Day" in 2002, along with the Jaguar XKR, another Ford brand.

The latest Bond film, "Casino Royale," which introduced Daniel Craig in the title role, also debuted the Aston Martin DBS, which is not due in showrooms until late 2007.

Ford Motor has been struggling with losses and declining market share. It has been forced to sell convertible bonds that can dilute the value of its stock and mortgage some of its property and assets in an effort to finance its turnaround efforts. But in November sales of the traditional No. 2 U.S. automaker fell to No. 4, behind not only General Motors (Charts) but also Toyota Motor (Charts) and DaimlerChrylser (Charts). It announced earlier this month that more than half of its 75,000 U.S. hourly workers had taken offers to leave the company.

Martin. Aston Martin.