Here’s a good reason to watch the next James Bond movie Skyfall: There’s an Aston Martin DB5 in it.

Well, this or the fact that Berenice Marlohe is the new Bond girl. The DB5 has been spotted in a chase scene on the set of Skyfall, but it’s not yet clear what is its exact role in the film.

Aston will probably have Mr. Bond in one of their latest products. The DB5 will complement that. We hope it’ll have a longer sequence than what it had in the Casino Royale.

It would be perfect if Daniel Craig drove an Aston One-77 in the film, the combination of old and new would make a nice contrast. That said, we’re not sure Craig can pull off Sean Connery’s style in posing with the DB5:

via: TopGear

You may remember a few weeks ago Afzal Kahn promised to revamp the Aston Martin Cygnet and turn it into something wonderful. Here’s his first take on the car.

The changes Kahn Design has made to the car are very nice and elegant. We like the vented bonnet like that of the V12 Vantage, the chrome bars in the grille and the bumper, the side skirts, flared arches, the stainless steel quad exhaust system with cross hair feature, and of course, those RS 17” front and 18” rear wheels.

The finish for the wheels are optional and you can have them in the colour of your choice and fit all original centre caps. The exterior of this Cygnet is finished in a superb imperial blue. The car also benefits from Kahn lowering module and brake calipers.

As always, the interior treatment is bespoke and virtually limitless in terms of materials and colors you can choose. Kahn’s lifestyle department has also designed a wrist watch to perfect your style whilst driving this unique Cygnet!

Factory fitted option – Aston Martin Cygnet

Bag
Umbrella
First Aid Kit
Rear Parking Sensors
Bright Finish Upper and Lower Grille
Mirror Cap in Body Colour
Tailgate Finisher
Mesh in Magnum Silver
Tailgate Spoiler
Satellite Navigation

Kahn GMT Pure watch specification:

Pure white Face
Stainless Steel Case
50M Water Resistant
Quartz Movement
Date function
Black Leather Strap with contrast white stitching
World time zones with all major world cities
Kahn Inscription
40MM Diameter
Swiss Made

A few days ago we brought to you the first pictures of the production version of Aston Martin V2 Zagato. Now here’s some more starlight from Aston HQ in Gaydon.

Aston made the car official as it’s gearing up for its world debut, as a production car, at Kuwait Concourse d’Elegance. Full production then begins in the third quarter of 2012, with the first deliveries scheduled to reach customers towards the end of the year.

By now I’m sure most of you know about the car’s details, but here’s a quick recap. The V12 Zagato was conceived as a celebratory concept car to mark the reunion of Aston Martin with Zagato design house.

It is based on the Aston Martin V12 Vantage and has the same 520hp engine, but with a bespoke aluminum body and a heavily revised interior. They will only make 150 units of this car, each sporting a base price of £330,000.

Aston Martin V12 Zagato Story:

For Aston Martin’s CEO, Dr Ulrich Bez, the V12 Zagato is “a celebration of both Aston Martin’s heritage and its future”. He continues: “Our relationship with Zagato stretches back more than 50 years. Together in that time we have created a series of very special cars. The first – the DB4GT Zagato – is a true icon: fast, beautiful and incredibly desirable. In the V12 Zagato I believe we have captured the spirit of that car and combined it with a confident twist of modernity to give it a character all of its own.”

Initial design concepts for the V12 Zagato were explored in early 2010. Inspired by Zagato’s bold and individual styling signatures Aston Martin’s Director of Design, Marek Reichman, and his Gaydon-based design team relished the challenge of shaping the V12 Zagato, creating a car that pushes the boundaries of Aston Martin’s design language, yet pays tribute to the DB4GT Zagato. Demonstrating Aston Martin’s ability to rapidly bring ideas to fruition the Zagato programme quickly gained momentum, the design team working hand-in-hand with engineers and artisans to complete the build of a pair of concept cars in the spring of 2011.

May 2011 saw the V12 Zagato make its world debut at the prestigious Villa d’Este concours. Entered in the Concept Cars and Prototypes class, the V12 Zagato wowed the judges and the crowd, taking first place against impressive opposition. In June the Villa d’Este winner – along with the second prototype car – made the V12 Zagato’s world racing debut at the gruelling 24 hour endurance race held at the Nürburgring. Both cars completed the ultimate durability test, continuing Aston Martin’s 100 per cent finishing record in this notoriously tough race.

After an overwhelmingly positive response from customers, the decision was made in July 2011 to build a strictly limited run of V12 Zagatos. Since then, Aston Martin’s design team has worked to refine the sports car’s detailing and aerodynamic performance while staying faithful to the original design concept. At the same time engineers based at Gaydon have been putting prototypes through the company’s rigorous development programme to ensure the V12 Zagato performs as well as it looks.

Every Aston Martin is a unique combination of advanced materials, technology and time-honoured craftsmanship. The V12 Zagato takes this philosophy to a level previously seen in the company’s exquisite One-77 supercar, which completes its build run this year. Built at Aston Martin’s global headquarters in Gaydon, Warwickshire, production of the V12 Zagato will be strictly limited to no more than 150 cars.

Creating each V12 Zagato is a painstaking process that takes approximately 2,000 man-hours to complete. Just like the One-77, the V12 Zagato is constructed from a combination of hand crafted aluminium and carbon fibre. The bonnet, signature ‘double-bubble’ roof and doors are hand-crafted aluminium, while the front and rear fenders, door sills and boot lid surround are made from carbon fibre.

The finished body is then painted in the same dedicated area as the One-77. Four unique colours have been created for the V12 Zagato: Scintilla Silver, Alloro Green, Alba Blue and Diavolo Red. The painting process alone takes some 100 hours to complete and is followed by the marriage of the body and the drivetrain within the sports car production area. From there the V12 Zagato is transferred to the standalone facility originally built to house One-77 production, where the build is completed.

This serene, laboratory-like space is perfectly suited to the task of creating special cars such as the V12 Zagato. It is here that time is lavished upon the fitment and installation of an array of bespoke components, including the side glass and the distinctive rear window, which features a curved surface that continues the sculptural lines of the ‘double-bubble’ roof. All the exterior brightwork around the windows has a contemporary black finish to compliment the exposed carbon fibre components. Fitment of the hand-crafted interior and upholstery is also completed in this dedicated build area.

Like all Aston Martins when viewed as a whole the V12 Zagato is an artful composition of powerful lines and compelling proportions, but when viewed up close it reveals sophisticated, sculptural surfaces and jewel-like details. The exposed elements of carbon fibre on the front splitter, A-pillars, rear lamp pods, diffuser, door mirror cases and rear wing all display the same perfectly symmetrical weave and smooth resin finish. Likewise the bold new grille is formed in a unique three-dimensional composite material mesh that echoes Zagato’s famous ‘Z’ moniker.

More delights are found inside. Seven Bridge of Weir hides – in semi-aniline finish to offer durability while preserving the natural texture of the leather – are used to trim the V12 Zagato’s interior. Hand-stitched quilting of a unique design creates a flowing pattern that evokes a dynamic sense of movement across the seats and headlining, while ‘Z’ embroidery in the headrests and rear parcel shelf add a further flourish. Satin-finish carbon fibre on the dashboard and centre stack is perfectly complimented by piano black accents and satin black rotary switchgear. Carbon fibre sill plaques with ’V12 Zagato’ inlaid metal script provide a distinctive finishing touch.

As promised, Aston Martin will put the V12 Zagato special edition into production this year for a limited run.

This is the car that will be delivered to customers, after it made its debut at the Kuwait Concourse d’Elegance later this month. The very first production version of the car will be revealed in the Middle East, where most of the 150 units will probably end up.

The Zagato V12 has a base price of £330,000 GBP, which will probably be bumped further on the showroom floors, or when the allocation runs out. That is a big price for a Vantage in a fancy dress, but then this is a very special car, a future classic, a collectible item. So it’s kinda worth it.

Technical specs are the same as the normal V12 Vantage:

ENGINE

• ALL ALLOY, QUAD OVERHEAD CAMSHAFT, 48-VALVE, 5935CC 6.0-LITRE V12
• FRONT MID-MOUNTED ENGINE, REAR-WHEEL DRIVE
• FULLY CATALYSED STAINLESS STEEL EXHAUST SYSTEM WITH ACTIVE BYPASS VALVES
• SELECTABLE ‘SPORT’ MODE

TRANSMISSION

• REAR MID-MOUNTED, SIX-SPEED MANUAL GEARBOX
• ALLOY TORQUE TUBE WITH CARBON-FIBRE PROPELLER SHAFT
• FINAL-DRIVE RATIO 3.71:1
• LIMITED SLIP DIFFERENTIAL

PERFORMANCE

• MAXIMUM POWER: 380 KW (510 BHP/517 PS) AT 6500 RPM
• MAXIMUM TORQUE: 570 NM (420 LB FT) AT 5750 RPM
• ACCELERATION: 0-100 KM/H (0-62 MPH) IN 4.2 SECONDS
• MAXIMUM SPEED: 305 KM/H (190 MPH)

Yep, that’s Patrick Dempsey of Grey’s Anatomy posing with the Aston Martin Vantage GT4. He and his mates did good in their inaugural Grand Am race.

The Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge (CTSCC) series opener was held at the Daytona International Speedway. Dempsey and Aston Martin’s chief engineer Chris Porritt were sharing the second Vantage and managed to rise from 24^th to 14^th.

The first car driven by Scott Maxwell and Joe Foster showed encouraging potential by leading the early phase of the race. They qualified in third position and even led the race briefly before finishing in 16^th position. Dempsey and Porritt finished 32^nd . Not bad results given the crashes, yellow flags and the fact that this was Aston’s Grand-Am debut.

Having completed the demanding Grand-Am race, Dempsey said: “It was a tremendous pleasure to be in an Aston Martin at Daytona. The Vantage GT4 handles and brakes really well and was awesome in the wet conditions at the start. Chris Porritt was a great partner – it would be nice if Aston Martin could bring him back for another Grand-Am race so we could complete our unfinished business from today.”

Snippets from the race:

Foster and Dempsey pitted to make way for Maxwell and Porritt respectively, but not before the #71 Vantage GT4 was hit from behind. The exhaust, which was damaged in the incident, soon began fouling a rear tyre, forcing a long pit stop during which the crew fell down the order as the leading cars completed six full laps. Porritt delivered consistently fast laps in the #71 car for the remainder of the race to climb to 32^nd in class.

The lead Aston Martin suffered similar misfortune, meanwhile, when Maxwell was handed a 30 second stop-go penalty for a minor pit stop misdemeanour. Having also dropped down the race standings, Maxwell’s fight back was hampered by several late yellow flag interruptions – his eventual 16^th place coming as poor reward for some great racing.

]]> http://www.motorward.com/2012/01/aston-martin-off-to-a-good-start-in-grand-am/feed/ 0 http://www.motorward.com/2012/01/first-production-aston-zagato-v12-debuts-in-kuwait/ http://www.motorward.com/2012/01/first-production-aston-zagato-v12-debuts-in-kuwait/#comments Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:36:42 +0000 Arman Barari http://www.motorward.com/?p=30581

The very first production unit of Aston Martin V12 Zagato will make its debut at the Middle East’s only Concours d’ Elegance in Kuwait on 15-18 February.

In its third successive year, Kuwait Concours d’Elegance will host the finest automotive art from over 19 countries. Aston’s decision to unveil the Zagato V12 at the event is partly due to its prestige, and partly because this year it is supported by Premier International Motors Group, Aston Martin’s dealer partner in Kuwait.

The V12 Zagato was first unveiled at the 2011 Villa D’Este Concours on Lake Como, as a concept to celebrate Aston and Zagato’s reunion. It is based on the V12 Vantage and powered by the same V12 engine (510 bhp (380 kW / 517 PS), and 570 Nm (420 lb ft) of torque) as well, but features a Zagato designed body with exquisite details.

Due to the overwhelming interest shown in the car last year, Aston decided to put it in production, but only in a limited number of 150 units, each priced at a staggering £330,000 GBP. Aston Martin will sure receive a number of orders from Arab collectors at this Kuwaiti event.

Dr Ulrich Bez, CEO of Aston Martin said “We are excited to show the new V12 Zagato for the first time in production form at the Kuwait Concours d’Elegance. Over 50 years since the introduction of the iconic DB4GT Zagato, Aston Martin and Zagato have collaborated to create this modern interpretation which remains true to the original focus of craftsmanship, performance and exclusivity.”

Khurrum M. Sultan, a London-based filmed student, has made this rather magnificent short film for the Aston Martin Cygnet. He made the film for his final project, and although it looks like a big commercial for the Cygnet, we like his thinking here. He made a classy film, Aston publicized its car, terrific. The thing is, he picked the wrong car for the plot, it must have been the DBS, or at least the new Virage. Still, nice film. Check it out after the jump.

Aston Martin continues its expansion plans in China with opening of the largest flagship showroom in Shanghai.

This lavish showroom has space fro up to 18 Astons and provides a very unique shopping experience with facilities such as café, lounge, Aston Martin merchandise display and sales area, fully equipped service centre, Jaeger-LeCoultre time-pieces and Bang & Olufsen audio/visual displays.

This is the seventh dealership for Aston Martin in China and the third for Mr Zheng Ting Group.

Aston Martin Shanghai has a stunning display of the company’s model line-up, carefully positioned as pieces of sculpture presented in a gallery-style space, a world apart from conventional showrooms. From the breathtaking One-77 supercar to the powerful Vantage range, and new Virage to the exquisite DB9, DBS, four-door Rapide, and soon to be joined by the elegant yet brutal V12 Zagato recently confirmed for strictly limited production.

Aston Martins might look all fancy and sexy and what not, but they are hardened, sporty machines with deep roots in motorsports. That’s why most Aston owners are men. Aston Martin however, wants more female customers. That, we think, is why they just released a nice, tender, kinda romantic video featuring a Virage titled “Aston Martin Love Women, Women Love Aston Martin”.

Watch the video after the jump, see if you can work out what’s it for.

The famous British tuner Afzal Kahn announced his plans to transform the Aston Martin Cygent from a jumped up Toyota iQ into a true style icon.

How’s he going to do so is still a mystery, but it seems he’s set himself a very big challenge. Sure the Cygent is a little car – a baby Aston, if you will – but Aston Martin has already done what could be done to hide the car’s Toyota roots.

Still, Kahn thinks he can do better and make the Cygent more refined, more interesting. He’s apparently decided on the colour scheme and is in the very midst of developing the look. We’re guessing Kahn’s going to totally facelift the car.

Can’t wait to see the end result!

Aston Martin Racing is expanding the Vantage GT4′s career by sending it over the pond to race in the 2012 Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge.

They’ve appointed Multimatic Motorsports as their American partner to campaign two GT4s in the CTSCC series. The Canadian firm is also the maker of the carbon fibre chassis for the exclusive One-77 supercar, as well as carbon fibre components for the V12 Vantage Zagato.

The lead car will be driven by Multimatic regulars and proven race-winners Scott Maxwell and Joe Foster. They also have a movie star onboard. Grey’s Anatomy’ Patrick Dempsey, a talented racer in his own right, will drive the second car, partnered in the opening round of the series by Aston Martin Chief Engineer and vastly experienced Vantage GT4 racer Chris Porritt.

The Vantage GT4 has years of successful European campaigns in its portfolio, including numerous 24 Hour class victories, the 2010 European GT4 Cup title, back-to-back championship victories in the Nürburgring-based VLN series in 2010 and 2011. Aston hopes the Vantage makes a good career in America as well.

Based on the V8 Vantage production car, it’s powered by the same 4.7 liter V8 and has the same manual transmission and suspension design. It is in fact the road-going car if you strip away the racing body and roll bars, and put some leather on the dashboard.

About CTSCC:

The Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge is run by the Grand American Road Racing Organization. The 2012 calendar takes in some of North America’s most iconic circuits over ten races, which run for two and a half hours with a mandatory driver change. The series kicked off with an official test session at the Daytona International Speedway on January 6-8, ahead of the prestigious opening round at the same circuit on January 27, which will be held as a support race to the legendary Rolex 24 at Daytona. Aston Martin will compete in the headlining Grand Sport category, which is contested by six- and eight-cylinder production-derived sports cars.

Dartz French dealer recently had a customer project to wrap an Aston Martin DBS in red satine matt vinyl. The owner of this Aston has already got a Mansory body kit for it too, so even if it wasn’t for the wrap, you could say he’s a massive how-off. It’s kinda sad to see a beautiful and dignified car such as the DBS get ruined by a couple of dudes in mad trousers and baseball caps on wrong way round wrapping it in a vulgar and ostentatious red, but if you have the heart there’s a time lapse video of it taking place after the jump.

While we are on the subject of winter driving, let also check out what Aston offers its customers. They just released a video of their last year’s event held at St. Moritz, Switzerland. The amazing scenery and those fantastic Astons create a wonderful image. Of course it is bonkers driving such lavish, and expensive, cars on snow and ice. You could ruin the car easily. That said, Aston brings along its own experts and instructors to make sure customers are safe while having big fun.

Sources close to Aston Martin say the British company will unveil a V12-powered version of the Vantage Roadster at the next Geneva Motor Show.

The long-awaited V12 roadster was first spotted over two years at the Nurburgring. But all those special editions of the V8 Vantage, and of course the launch of the Rapide and then the Virage, didn’t leave Aston with enough time to work on it.

Now though, it is apparently ready for 2012 launch. Just like the Coupe, that V12 Vantage Roadster is based on the V8 version of the car but instead of the V8 it gets the 6.0 liter V12 out of the DBS with 520 hp. Visually, the car comes with different bumpers and wheels over the V8, and unfortunately a vented bonnet which kinda ruins the styling at front. Hopefully Aston won’t use it for the Roadster.

This car will be brilliant, but to be honest with the Aston Martin Vantage all you want is that glorious body which is bite the back of your hand beautiful. Cruising with the top down you don’t really need all that power. We’d still pick the V8 and save tens of thousands!

via: GTspirit

Aston Martin released new videos of the Cygnet city car, this time boasting its exquisite craftsmanship.

But to be honest there is only so much you can do to hide this car’s Toyota roots. The Cygent as I’m sure you know is a Toyota iQ in Aston’s fancy dress. The reason Aston did such a thing is because they have to bring their average CO2 emission down, and this was the only way to avoid hybrids and stuff. So don’t blame them.

The Cygent is the most luxurious city runabout you can buy, but don’t do it if you are a man, or at least if you are straight! This is such a girly car. In fact, the idea that you buy a DB9 or a DBS or a Vantage for yourself, and then get this for your wife or girlfriend.

Available throughout the UK, Europe, Hong Kong and Japan, Cygnet is the bespoke Tailor-Fit city car. With its almost limitless combination of interior and exterior colours and finishes, Cygnet has generated a high level of interest, with over seventy-five percent of customers being new to the Aston Martin brand.

]]> http://www.motorward.com/2011/12/aston-martin-cygnet-craftsmanship-detailed-video/feed/ 3 http://www.motorward.com/2011/12/tiff-needell-reviews-aston-martin-virage-volante/ http://www.motorward.com/2011/12/tiff-needell-reviews-aston-martin-virage-volante/#comments Sun, 04 Dec 2011 15:53:37 +0000 Arman Barari http://www.motorward.com/?p=28411

Aston Martin Virage is a car that James May thinks is unnecessarily tough and hard. He might like the Volnate version though, as open-top Astons are usually softer and calmer. Tiff Needell on the other hand, he likes his cars stiff as hell because that’ll make them good through the corners. He’s the kind of guy who would complain if Aston trade handling for a bit more comfort. So let’s see what he thinks of the new Virage Volante.

He takes the car to an old, deserted race track in France. Check him out after the jump.

As reported earlier, testing phase has just begun for the new Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 in preparation for 2012 season. The car will have the same technical specs as the DBRS9, the car that it replaces, with a 600-hp V12 engine. But it will have different aerodynamics, while almost every major components is upgraded. Here’s some footage of the car’s first shakedown at the track. It’ll be one of the prettiest contenders in 2012 International GT series.

Next year Aston Martin Racing has to say goodbye to the DBRS9 and replace it with this, the V12 Vantage GT3. So they need to make sure it’s up to the job.

The car has already gone under heavy testings covering 1000 km in two days. After all, this is an endurance racer, so extended testing of the car at competition speeds to ensure the longevity of all critical components.

The V12 GT3 needs to be good because it’s replacing a brilliant and very successful car. It features Aston Martin’s renowned bonded aluminium VH body structure and 6.0-litre V12 engine with the road-going V12 Vantage. Changes include a lightweight crankshaft, dry sump lubrication and new valve trains for even greater performance and reliability.

The 600bhp V12 powers the rear wheels via a carbon fibre propshaft, an Xtrac six-speed sequential transmission and limited slip differential. It also features six pot calipers at the front and four pot items at the rear, with ventilated discs. Suspension is double wishbone type with uniball bearings and two-way adjustable dampers front and rear.

But it’s real winning card is Aston’s six years of racing experience.

After two days behind the wheel, Turner said: “The car ran like clockwork throughout and we’ve managed really good mileage already. The feeling of the V12 Vantage GT3 is a massive step forward from the DBRS9. Being based on the smaller Vantage it is more responsive and feels more nimble, giving the driver plenty of confidence to extract all the performance from the V12 engine while also being light on its tyres. It isn’t too physical to drive and I didn’t even break into a sweat during the test!

“With the clean styling and the amazing sounding V12, it’s closer to the core values of Aston Martin’s road cars than any of the racing cars we’ve ever built. I’m certain it’ll become a favourite among motorsport fans in no time at all.”

Aston Martin is asking its fans to help them design commemorative one-off Aston which will celebrate the company’s one millionth ‘fan’ on Facebook.

If you want to take part first you have to log on to Facebook and like Aston’s page. Then you answer a series of questions, beginning with what model this one-off should be based on. For the love of God don’t vote for the Cygnet!

You will then go through an extensive choice of interior leather trims, finishes and stitches before selecting an exterior colour scheme, a number of which have been created specifically for this car by the Aston Martin Design team. The most popular answers will decide specs of this special celebratory car.

Aston Martin will then send each participant a downloadable certificate of the final design. They will also be reducing the price of the innovative ‘Aston Martin Experience’ iPhone app from £3.49 to the special offer price of £0.69. Oh good!

www.facebook.com/astonmartin

After a couple of sketches Danish company HBH is now ready to show us the final design of their Aston Martin-based one-off supercar.

It looks pretty awesome. After all, it is based on an Aston. But we’re not sure the name they’ve given it is a good one.

HBH calls it the Bulldog GT. It’d be fine if the car was a big muscle car, or a truck. But it’s an exquisite and elegant super car with such a lustrous design. Bulldog doesn’t sound right somehow!

The Bulldog is a one-off project, but they are considering it for small-series production. But that depends on the market. It they see any potential they will do it.

Now that the design is finalized, HBH will enter the development phase, which they say will take 12 months. So the car would be ready for its first test drive in early 2013. The power comes from a V12 Aston engine as well, but with two superchargers. It will come with a proper manual gearbox and limited slip diff.The brakes will be carbon ceramic.

HBH Bulldog will have 675 PS and 756 Nm of torque and is expected to reach 300 km/h, with a 0 to 100 time of 3.9 seconds.

via: ClassicDriver