Ulrich Bez has presided over Aston Martin for nearly thirteen years now. In that time, Bez has overseen the expansion of the company from just a couple of models to a full line-up including V8- and V12-powered GTs and convertibles, supercars, a four-door coupe and even a luxury city car. He's expanded Aston's racing activities considerably, orchestrated the company's move from the old factory at Newport Pagnell to the state-of-the-art facility at Gaydon and ushered it out of the Ford era into independent ownership.

Suffice it to say, he's had a tremendous impact on the British automaker, but the time is reportedly coming for Bez and the company he has run since July 2000 to move on. According to British publication Autocar, Bez – now pushing 70 years old - will step down from his role as CEO within the coming months, taking a more "ambassadorial role" and handing the day-to-day running of Aston Martin over to his successor. Just who that will be remains to be seen, but Autocar also reports that Chris Porritt – Aston's platform manager and the mastermind behind the One-77 – is also leaving the company and moving over to Tesla.