Aston Martin

Aston Martin has once again celebrated success with its Vanquish in the latest readers’ vote for the “Best Cars 2016” held by renowned German automotive magazine auto motor und sport. The 2016 awards were presented on Thursday in Stuttgart and decided entirely via readers’ votes, the Aston Martin Vanquish was awarded first place in the Sports Cars Import category.

The Aston Martin DB10 – the first car created exclusively for James Bond by British luxury brand Aston Martin – is to go under the auctioneer’s gavel at the London auction house of Christie’s on 18th February with proceeds donated to Médecins Sans Frontières. ‘Spectre – The Auction’ celebrates the release of the 24th Bond film on Digital HD, Blu-ray™ and DVD with 24 special auction lots going under the hammer for charity, led by the Aston Martin DB10. Celebrating the great British brand’s half century with Bond, which started with the iconic DB5, the DB10 gives a glimpse of the future design direction for the next generation of Aston Martins. Production of the DB10 was strictly limited to ten examples of the bespoke sports car which was developed and hand-built by the designers, engineers and artisan craftspeople at Aston […]

Well-known car designer Henrik Fisker filed civil extortion charges against Aston Martin. He says that the British luxury sports car manufacturer threatened to sue him if the sports car dubbed as the Force1, which resembles the DB10, makes its way to the Detroit Auto Show. As a countermeasure, Henrik filed a civil extortion lawsuit against the British carmaker asking for US$100 million for damages. Fisker is a recognized designer in the automotive industry. He served as BMW’s DesignWorks president before he was brought to Aston Martin. The British automaker only sold 400 cars per year during the mid-90s. By the time Fisker designed two cars for the British carmaker that made it to production, global sales have grown and the company sold 7,000 cars worldwide.

As the Christmas displays disappear, shoppers in London’s Knightsbridge are to be treated to the sight of a very special Aston Martin window display in Harrods, the world’s most famous luxury department store. Three stunning Aston Martin sports cars will take over the iconic Harrods storefront in a month-long celebration of the British marques’ ‘DB’ nameplate. Since their debut in the early 1950s, the ‘DB’ models offered by Aston Martin – named after Sir David Brown who bought Aston Martin in 1947 – have been synonymous with sophisticated grand touring and thrilling sports car performance.

Leading global technology company Letv and luxury sports car brand Aston Martin today revealed at the Consumer Electronics Show the first results of their collaboration – an Aston Martin Rapide S incorporating the latest Letv Internet of the Vehicle (IOV) system. Aston Martin and Letv signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on December 3rd 2015 to confirm research projects that include the development of connected electric vehicles through to manufacturing consultation on future electric vehicles.

Beaulieu is proud to welcome two new rallies, Simply Aston Martin and Simply Jaguar, to its busy 2016 calendar of Simply rallies. Celebrating two of Britain’s best-loved sports car marques within the successful Simply rally format, these new rallies will join the six already well-established Simplys that will be returning for 2016. Simply Aston Martin will get the show season off to a racing start on 10th April, as owners of all Aston Martins, classic and modern, are invited to display their cars in the grounds of the National Motor Museum. A number of owners’ clubs are expected to attend the new Simply Jaguar, taking place on 8th May, which will gather together a wide variety of sports cars and saloons adorned with the famous leaping cat mascot, with all cars built by the historic manufacturer welcome.

Arthur George Wilson joined Aston Martin in the early part of 1959. In a career spanning over 40 years, he took up the post of AML Head of Engines in 1984 where he stayed until his retirement in 2000. He developed the 580X Vantage Aston Martin engine, the 32 valve engine and designed and developed the twin supercharged 32 valve Vantage engine, and the engine for the normally aspirated V8 Coupe. Wilson has written Aston Martin Engine Development which will be a must-have for all Aston Martin owners. Reading this book is roughly akin to being told a story by a new friend while poking around in the garage. You know what happens, you are looking at cars and maybe diagnosing a fault as you talk about dogs or the weather or how you came to acquire this car, when all of […]

Our video this week comes from the folks at “The Fast Lane Car” and features a look at the exception Aston Martin DB2/4 DHC. Over the decades. Aston Martin has built some of the most beautiful and sexy cars ever made. And many would argue that the 1955 Aston Martin DB2/4 Drop Head Coupe is no exception to the rule. This model was featured in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds. It is also one of only a few small number of Aston Martin DB2/4 Drop Head Coupe convertibles ever built – supposedly just 15. It features a dual overhead cam straight-6 designed by W. O. Bentley and it features four seats and a convertible top. Just those facts alone make it a classic. Just for references sake, Hagerty’s value guide currently suggests that a 1954 Aston Martin DB2/4 Mk I, not the […]

British GT GT4 Drivers’ Champion Ross Gunn (18) has won the inaugural Aston Martin Racing Evolution Academy, receiving a factory-backed contract with Aston Martin Racing for the 2016 season.   Competing against a strong field of young hopefuls, aged between 16 and 25 years old, the High Wycombe-born GT4 rookie excelled in the academy’s seminars held throughout 2015. Focusing on key areas such as fitness, simulator sessions, engineering, marketing and PR, a final group of six were selected for the Bahraini showdown. After shadowing the Aston Martin Racing team throughout the FIA World Endurance Championship’s season finale, each of the six finalists enjoyed two track sessions as part of the official WEC rookie test, driving the 2015 V8 Vantage GTE.

A classic Aston Martin has broken the auction record to become the most expensive British car ever sold at auction, fetching £9.45 million.  The DB4/GT Zagato, which when new in 1962 cost £5,470, was sold at RM Sotheby’s Driven By Disruption event in New York Saturday, the 12th. The price marks a new record for a British car at auction (even if it fell slightly shy of the £10 million some had expected), which was previously held by a McLaren F1 that went for £8.8 million earlier this year.

His Highness Sheikh Suroor bin Mohammed al Nahyan today signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Aston Martin CEO Dr Andy Palmer for a new Aston Martin showroom in Abu Dhabi, based in Etihad Towers. Richard Foulds, Head of Property Management at Etihad Towers said, “We are thrilled to be able to share this exciting news. Aston Martin opening in Abu Dhabi is good news for us all, and we are especially pleased to be hosting their beautiful new showroom here.”

Aston Martin will start the Six Hours of Bahrain from pole in the GTE Am class, while also enjoying a return to competitive form in the GTE Pro category. Despite the distraction of a restarted qualifying session due to technical difficulties at the circuit, the #98 GTE Am pairing of Paul Dalla Lana (CA) and Pedro Lamy (PT) were capable of pulling together two strong lap times, clinching pole position for tomorrow’s race with an average of 1m58.659.

Aston Martin Racing has announced that six of its Evolution Academy drivers will test the Vantage GTE at the final round of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) in Bahrain, before the panel decides who will be offered a 2016 works team contract. Dan Lloyd (GB), who helped Craft-Bamboo Racing secure the GT Asia Series championship title, will be joined by British GT Championship GT4 class-winners Ross Gunn (GB) and Jamie Chadwick (GB). The 24H Series GT4 class-winner Devon Modell will also take part, alongside British GT Championship GT3 stars Matt Bell (GB) and Jody Fannin (GB).

An impressive line-up of current and classic Aston Martins gathered in the Great Court at Blenheim Palace on Sunday 8 November for the premiere of DB10: Built for Bond. The specially commissioned one hour documentary follows the creation of DB10, a model developed specifically for James Bond in Spectre, built in-house by the luxury brand’s design and engineering teams in just six months.

Aston Martin has once again confirmed its position as the most popular car brand in Germany. Readers of the renowned title Auto Bild Klassik voted the V12 Vantage S Roadster “Classic Car of the Future”. For the sixth year in succession, Auto Bild Klassik has presented Europe’s most important Classic Award. 98 candidates were nominated in 13 categories. The award ceremony took place in the Autostadt in Wolfsburg on October 20th. Mark Kenworthy, Regional Director European Operations of Aston Martin Lagonda of Europe, says: “We are very proud to once again receive this important award. The Aston Martin V12 Vantage S Roadster embodies the genes of Aston Martin perfectly: Superior performance in timeless design. We thank the readers of Auto Bild Klassik for their support.”

Ok Let’s see… Random misfire and misfire on cylinder #11 … Looks like you need the basic ignition service. When would you like to do that? How much you ask? Oh, about $4,000. That was a nasty fall, can I help you up, get you some aspirin? Well of course I can break it down. Twelve spark plugs at $40.91 each, twelve coils at $157.56 each, a manifold gasket set at $407.36, and then around $900 labor …. How often?  Well, about every 25 or 30 thousand miles. Perhaps you should sit down again, you look faint. What I’m trying to point out here is that it’s possible to drive a spectacular car as your secondary “real car” for the kind of people that for instance left the 3 year old ‘Benz in the driveway this morning and drove the […]

Aston Martin is today showcasing a fully electric concept of its Rapide S four-door sports saloon outside Lancaster House in London – the venue for a meeting between Their Royal Highnesses Prince William, Duke of Cambridge; Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and President of The People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping. The new RapidE concept has been developed in collaboration with Williams Advanced Engineering at its facility in Grove, Oxfordshire. It is on display today in support of a creative summit organised by the British government’s successful GREAT campaign to showcase the best of what the UK has to offer and encourage people to visit, do business, invest and study in this country. Aston Martin CEO, Dr Andy Palmer, said: “We see luxury electric vehicles as an intrinsic part of our future product portfolio and welcome ChinaEquity into the next phase […]

The Aston Martin DB10 built exclusively for James Bond in the forthcoming movie, Spectre, roared into Newport Pagnell on Saturday as part of a tour of the British sport car maker’s UK dealers. The relaxed, family-friendly, event saw more than 500 people visit Aston Martin Works to get a close-up view of the exclusive new sports car. DB10 is limited to just ten examples, all of which are used in the highly anticipated new Bond film which premieres in London on Monday October 26. Stunt driver Mark Higgins – the man behind the wheel for the extreme driving scenes in three Bond films – was also at Saturday’s event to share his fascinating insights into both the making of Spectre and the experience of driving the exclusive DB10. Aside from the rare chance to see the stunning Aston Martin DB10 […]