Review of Aston Martin Vanquish

Niche sportscar manufacturer Lotus has scooped a ‘best driver’s car’ accolade for its Evora model. The award, from Autocar magazine, followed assessment on road and track around the South Downs and the Goodwood race circuit. Lotus beat off competition from Aston Martin, Nissan, Porsche, Audi, Lamborghini and Jaguar. The mid-engined 2+2 Lotus Evora combines a super stiff extruded and bonded aluminium chassis with vehicle dynamics knowledge employed to tune its race-car derived double wishbone suspension. Roger Becker, vehicle engineering director for Lotus, said: “The dynamic ability and driving experience of the Evora were the foundation of the engineering process and we are delighted that Autocar has recognised this by giving the Evora this accolade. The Evora offers the great Lotus driving experience in a very comfortable, practical, refined and efficient package, and with only 205 g/km of CO2 it shows […]

The Telegraph is reporting that more than 100 people have applied to buy the One-77, the most expensive road car in the world, even though only 77 will be made. The 200mph car was unveiled at the Paris Motor Show this week, and Aston Martin said that the growing financial gloom had not hit sales. “The interest is incredible,” chief designer Marek Reichmann told The Sun newspaper. Aston Martin has been reluctant to release details about the One-77, but it is known to have a 7.0 litre V12 engine, carbon fibre chassis, and aluminium body. “One-77 fuses advanced technology with stunning Aston Martin design to create possibly the world’s most desirable automotive art form,” the Warwickshire-based carmaker said. It will “deliver exhilarating performance for a strictly limited number of discerning customers”, the according to the firm. Staff

Aston-Martin and Maybach are discussing building a concept car together, possibly for the Frankfurt show in September — and the move could signal an impending partnership between Aston 
and Mercedes-Benz. Little is known about the concept, except that it is likely to be a luxury car, with a high-quality interior finished to the hand-crafted standards of a British luxury saloon. Aston is understood to have approached Mercedes with an idea for at least one concept, although a source suggests that two projects are the subject of discussions. Neither Aston Martin nor Mercedes would comment. But Mercedes is understood to be close to selecting a partner to co-develop future Maybach models. In an interview in Germany, Daimler boss Dieter Zetsche recently put a date of “the end of June” for a decision, which is pressing because Maybach needs to finalise replacements for […]