Click above for a high-res gallery of the Aston Martin DBS.
According to Autocar, the lucky few that have put a deposit down on the new Aston Martin DBS will have to wait an additional three-months to get behind the wheel of the body-kitted Bond car. The problem apparently stems from suppliers who aren't able to deliver Aston with the one-off parts necessary to complete the DBS. As such, coupes are sitting unfinished at Aston's plant, but sources within the automaker say that they're willing to hold off on deliveries to ensure that all the parts are top-notch. Unfortunately, we doubt that some of the bespoke bits can be salvaged from one of the vehicles that's already been delivered.
With its Le Mans racing program soon to be bolstered by GT2 and LMP1 entries, and with sales of its ever-so-desirable GTs ever increasing, Aston Martin is preparing to add the four-door Rapide to its production line-up. And if this spy shot is any indication, things seem to be moving along nicely.
Aston was anticipated to decide by year's end where the Rapide would be built. Although the company just moved to a new facility in Gaydon, the automaker was reportedly in discussions with a number of smaller contractors – including Pininfarina, Karmann, Magna-Steyr and Valmet – over potentially outsourcing the Rapide's manufacturing. As we already know, these private coachbuilders are all in dire need of the contract.
Confirmation that Aston would build the Rapide was one of the first things its new owners did after acquiring the company from Ford, and we're looking forward to seeing the production version in the flesh after seeing this spy shot.
In our day-to-day, we come across a fair number of replicars. Some are especially convincing, while others are just plain bonkers. Far more so than the Miata-based AMX07 we brought you back in 2006, this Aston Martin V12 Vanquish replica could have had us fooled.
Made by Ontario, Canada-based Exclusive Motor Cars, this Aston replica is based on a previous-gen Ford Mustang. Ten companies are then involved in the transformation -- stretching the wheelbase, widening the track and lowering the ride height with suspension mods; crafting, painting and fitting the 34 composite body panels; custom upholstering the interior and fitting interior trim pieces; and mounting all the extra details from the headlights to the badges.
The end result, at least as far as we can tell from the pictures (you can judge for yourself in the gallery below), would appear to fool anyone but the most trained eye. Exclusive even plans to offer a "spy package" complete with (what we'd hope are fake) grille-mounted rocket launchers and hood-mounted machine guns in an effort to complete the "Die Another Day" 007 package. Although the company's pricing page is currently blank, you can bet it costs a heck of a lot less than the authentic, now-discontinued V12 Vantage itself. You very well might be the only one who would know the difference.
Daimler's not taking the close resemblance of a Chinese minicar to a smart fortwo lightly. The German automaker has gotten a court order forbidding Martin Motors, the European distributor for China's Shuanghuan Automobile, from displaying the Shuanghuan Noble at the upcoming Bologna Auto Show. This is the second time Daimler has blocked the Noble from being displayed, having taken similar action at the Frankfurt show.
Martin Motors is calling the Noble the Bubble in Europe, since there's already another Noble. Martin contends that the Bubble is not a copy of the fortwo, citing the four seats and front engine configuration among the differentiating details. Martin Motors has also demanded in Italian courts that Daimler prove its exclusive rights to the design of the smart. If a resolution can be reached, the Bubble will go on sale for about $10,000 euros across Europe. The resemblance is striking, but copying the look isn't the same as cribbing the underlying engineering. We haven't had the opportunity to crawl over, under, or through the Bubble, so we can't comment on whether it's better or worse than the smart, but from the looks of things in the video we've posted after the jump, the Bubble is hardly a premium vehicle. Shuanghuan also sells the CEO, a midsize SUV that borrows an awful lot from the BMW X5's looks. The appearance similarities between Shuanghuan's vehicles and those of well respected competitors may not help the Chinese automaker avoid having its European sales bubble burst.
Check the jump to see a video of the Noble/Bubble in action.
When will it be enough? "Never" could very well be the answer for David Richards, the head of racing freelancers Prodrive and chairman of Aston Martin. The two companies under his thumb have been collaborating on the campaigning of Aston Martin racing cars in a growing number of endurance sports car competition classes in recent years. The DBR9, DBRS9 and Vantage N24 have been ripping it up in the FIA GT1, GT3 and GT4 classes, but as you may have noticed, the Aston Martin racing program lacks a car to enter in the GT2 level. Prodrive and Aston are planning to plug that hole and strive for an eclipsing domination of sports car racing with a GT2 racer based on the V8 Vantage.
A mule is currently undergoing testing, having run laps around the MIRA test track in England, up the hill at Goodwood, and was set for more work this week at a Michelin tire test in Spain. That most recent test session, according to Prodrive's Aston racing program, will give them a better idea about the project's future.
The prospect of another Aston Martin hopped up on steroids and storming the track has got us watering at the mouth, so watch this space for more news.
Click the image above for more high-res, desktop-ready pics of the N400 Vantage.
Our lottery ticket fantasy garage just got a bit bigger. Aston Martin unveiled the N400 version of its V8 Vantage, a road-going tribute to its time around the 'Ring in 2006. Like every other Aston product, it will be built by hand in Gaydon, but this particular Vantage comes packing a modified 4.3-liter V8 producing 400 HP at 7,500 RPM, an addition 20 HP over the base model. Those extra ponies are freed up by the extensive use of lightened materials within the engine, including the crankshaft, conrods and pistons, along with a free flowing exhaust system and air filters.
We've got a host of pics below for your viewing enjoyment, and click here to view Aston's original press release.
Some were better than others, but the Bond flicks get us going back to the theater every time. There's just something irreplicably stylish and enchanting about the entire series, and 007's rides make up a big part of that allure... at least for hopeless car nuts like us. But just like the acting and storyline vary with each production, so does the coolness of Bond's cars. So where does each one rank? Just prior to the launch of the latest installment with Daniel Craig in Casino Royale, the pundits at Cars.com convened two specialists to rank the top 7 of 007's cars.
Earning top honors was the classic '64 Aston Martin DB5 from Goldfinger (which we also got to see in its cameo encore appearance in Casino Royale), ahead of the '75 Lotus Esprit featured in The Spy Who Loved Me. Surprisingly, the '97 BMW 750iL from Tomorrow Never Dies started from the second row, out-qualifying the '85 Aston Martin Volante from The Living Daylights, the 1930's Bentley Mark IV (From Russia With Love), the 2002 Aston Martin Vanquish (Die Another Day), and the '99 BMW Z8 (The World is Not Enough). The experts also gave honorable mention to the markedly more affordable '61 Sunbeam Alpine from Dr. No.
For our part, we'd certainly have placed the Vanquish ahead of the 7-Series, and ahead of the '85 Volante, but the real question is where the specially-made Aston Martin DBS would slot into the list. (And for that matter, what will Bond drive in the next episode?)
You just wanted to grab something from the liquor store, the same way you've done who knows how many times before. What you probably did not want to do is get in your truck in front of the liquor store and put it in drive ... then have your prosthetic leg come off at the worst time possible ... and get jammed in the worst place possible: on the accelerator. If that happened, as it did to Martin Niels of Beloit, WI, your loose leg would do the worst thing possible: drive your Chevy Silverado into the side of the building. Thankfully, no one was injured, and Nehls was only cited for driving without a valid driver's license -- surely not the worst ticket possible.
[Source: WTOP News]
Note: Since there was no pic of the actual incident, we found a random car-through-wall pic to use, which surprisingly was not that hard to find.
Now this is what we're talking about. A couple of days ago, Kuwati Investment Dar was discussing its intention to sell its share of Aston Martin. John Sinders, the American investment banker who also backed Dave Richards, is talking about the kinds of things we like to hear about Aston: racing, one-offs, lightweight variants, and limited editions.
Sinders says his role is to help build the brand, enlarge the dealer network, and to develop better engines that, with Bez at the helm, would remain naturally aspirated. Then he says a single-make race series is being discussed (check out the Vantage N24), and he wants to get Aston back in the ALMS -- but Aston won't enter Formula 1. He outlined a 4-model range for Aston: sports car (Vantage), GT (DB9), sport sedan (Rapide), and a halo car (Bond, anyone?), with the efforts going into developing those cars to be the best in their classes. And he nixed an SUV. But Aston doesn't just want a sports car: "We want to build the best sports car in the world. We fully intend to go straight at the Ferrari F430 and the Lamborghini Gallardo." The Vantage will need to spend quite a bit of time at the gym and the trainer's to pull that off, but there's an adjective to describe those kinds of words: fighting. We say, bring it. Click the link to check out the full interview.
The ink isn't dry on the contracts and the ownership transfer won't even be complete for another thirty days. However, Kuwaiti firm Investment Dar and its partner Adeem Investment Company are planning to put their stake up for sale. The consortium that purchased Aston was led by Dave Richards, backed by the Middle Eastern firms and American banker John Sinders. Using the best numbers we could find, Aston was sold for 479 million pounds, Investment Dar put up 240 million pounds, international banks pitched in 200 million pounds, and Ford retained a 40 million pound share. We don't know where the extra one million large went, but those are the numbers.
Investment Dar is the largest listed investment company in the Gulf. It says it has been getting bids daily and that it has planned to sell the stake, but we wonder if everyone knew that a sale would be in the cards and publicized so soon. According to Reuters, the Dar sale could happen any time, though it hasn't identified any bidders, and the firm would expect to make at least 20% profit. However, another story reports that Dar won't sell for at least a year and expects to make a 100% return on its investment. In the mean time, the company will help Aston focus on new models and expand its dealer network. Either way, we hope that this doesn't create any more instability for a great company getting back on its feet. And we really hope it doesn't do anything to interrupt the arrival of the Rapide.
London 2008: Honda OSM concept roadster says, "Cheerio!"
London 2008: Lotus unveils the Evora
2010 Chevy Camaro - Official Details and Images
2010 Chevy Camaro - LIVE from the reveal
Volkswagen unveiling two-door Elise fighter in LA, new sports car
First Drive: 2008 MINI Cooper S JCW
In the Autoblog Garage:2009 Nissan GT-R
North American Exclusive First Drive: Alfa MiTo
First Drive: 2009 Kia Borrego
In The Autoblog Garage: 2008 Mercedes SLK55 AMG
