Prodrive have officially announced that they will be moving to a new, larger location in Banbury during March next year.
Originally based at Silverstone for two years, before moving to their current Banbury location, the new facility will be Prodrive’s third move since Dave Richards and Ian Perry founded the company in 1984.
“It became clear that our current site would not be suitable for our future needs as while motorsport remains core to our business we have diversified into a number of new areas,” Chairman David Richards said.
“Our current site has become a familiar landmark for the millions of motorists who have driven up and down the M40 over the last 30 years. However our new location will be no less prominent and the increase in size of the facility will allow us to expand into new and exciting arenas beyond motorsport.”
Prodrive have gradually expanded over the last 28 years, being involved in a vast array of motorsport disciplines including: winning six WRC titles with Subaru, managing the BAR Forumla One team and of course running the Aston Martin Racing programme since 2005.
The new building – due to start construction in August – will be a single 110,000 sq ft structure, that will house Prodrive’s motorsport and advanced technology businesses. Meanwhile, the 40,000 sq ft composite manufacturing operation will stay at its current location in Milton Keynes.
“Walk around our site today and you will see Aston Martin Racing cars and MINI rally cars being prepared in workshops right next to advanced active aero systems for road going supercars; interior modules for luxury cars; advanced hybrid systems; and even the next generation of control systems for racing yachts.
“While we are best known for our motorsport successes, this now only represents a third of our turnover,” Richards added.
The change will see the Aston Martin workshops assembling GT4 and GT3 versions of the Vantage under one roof for the first time, the new facility on the other side of the M40 to the current HQ which is due to be demolished and replaced by a new Retail Park.
Prodrive’s heritage collection of some of the significant Rally, Touring and GT cars that have formed the history of the company meanwhile has been temporarily relocated to the Donington Collection during the period of the move.
