Magna wins big with the Aston Martin Rapide

The Aston Martin Rapide is the first new model built entirely outside the automaker's UK home market. The Rapide, a four-door coupe-like sports car aimed at rivals such as the Maserati Quattroporte and Porsche Panamera, is assembled by Magna Steyr at its plant in Graz, Austria. About 240 workers are employed in the vehicle's assembly. It takes approximately 220 work-hours to produce each car. Aston Martin hired Magna Steyr's because the British automaker's plant in Gaydon, England, already is building at maximum capacity of 8,000 cars a year. The Austrian arm of Canada's Magna International Inc. often describes itself as a tier-0.5 supplier in acknowledgement of its vehicle assembly experience. By the end of this year the Rapide, Peugeot RCZ, Mercedes G class, Mini Countryman and the painted bodies in white for the Mercedes SLS AMG will be produced in Graz.