Daimler CEO, Dieter Zetsche, has said his company is “fundamentally open” to forging deeper a co-operation with Aston Martin’s new CEO Andy Palmer. Palmer became the head of Aston Martin just over a week ago and has been involved in dealings with Daimler during his time at Renault. Clearly Daimler Benz feel he is the right negotiator to begin a new and fresh round of talks with but not before Aston’s new CEO has laid out a strategic plan. The Nissan & Renault alliance has seen a recent drain of talent, Palmer was one of its top corporate stars and this could be to the advantage of Aston Martin which is a privately owned sleeping giant. Palmer had tried to persuade Carlos Chosn, the Nissan CEO, to invest in a sports car maker, it seems his unsuccessful attempt led to his departure. Aston Martin is currently developing a new generation of cars at a cost of £500 million pounds, the biggest single investment ever made by the British Sports car maker. Daimler currently have a 4 percent shareholding in Aston Martin and have signed a deal to develop a new range of V8 engines based on AMG powerplants. The deeper co-operation between Daimler and Aston Martin can be interpreted as Mercedes being open to purchasing Aston Martin outright from a its current consortium of venture capitalist owners. That deal is at least 2 years away say our insider sources.