Aston Martin has sold a 37.5 percent equity stake to give it an influx of capital that will allow it to increase its product development. The $241 million deal was complete with Investindustrial, a Italian private equity firm. The stake makes the firm a "major investor," with proportional voting rights.

Founded nearly 100 years ago, the British car maker's sales have been slow in recent years. Through September, Aston Martin said it had sold just 2,340 cars, a 19 percent drop from the same period in 2011. Most recently, it has focused on cutting costs, but needed additional capital to design new cars. Investindustrial's stake will help it achieve its goal of investing a half-billion pounds (about $800 million) in new product development over the next five years. Currently it builds just the Aston Martin Vanquish (above), the Aston Martin V8 Vantage and the Aston Martin V12 Vantage (below) in Gaydone, Warwickshire, England. Its cars have been made famous by the series of James Bond films.

Aston Martin was sold by Ford Motor Co. in 2007 to two Kuwait-based firms. Investindustrial is now in the auto industry for its purchase of Ducati motorcycles in 2006, which is sold to Audi last April.