Archive for Aston Martin

Here’s a new promotional video for the Aston Martin Rapide that runs just a little longer than 3 minutes. Really not the best promo video released ever, but there are some nice shots and it helps that an Aston Martin is always a beautiful thing to look at. It starts off at the Mira Automotive Test Facility in Warwickshire, England and moves on to the notorious Nurburgring test track in Germany before heading to Stelvio Pass in Italy. Watch the video after the jump.

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Does this look cool to you?

What’s cooler than an Aston Martin? An iPhone. Probably no thanks to James Bond movies’ portrayal of the Aston Martin being the ultimate playboy spy’s car, the brand has sat at the top of the annual UK CoolBrands survey for three years consequetively, until this year where it has been displaced by the iPhone.

The survey polled 2,500 voters for a shortlist of cool brands and the final twenty were voted on by a panel of judges including DJ Edith Bowman and Adam & Eve founding partner James Murphy. No other carmaker made the seemingly very male-oriented top 10 list, but Ferrari managed to come in at 15th place.

Look after the jump for the top 20 list.

Source

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Perhaps all those Myvis going around town sporting a faux E60 5-Series look had the right idea all along. The car above is not a joke – it’s the Aston Martin Cygnet, which is basically a Toyota iQ with Aston Martin design cues.

“Now is the right time for Aston Martin to take this first bold step to embark on this special project – made possible with the support of an organisation of Toyota’s stature and capability and the intelligent design and perfect city car package of the iQ. Much work is still required, but I am confident that this project could become reality in the not too distant future. This concept – akin to an exclusive tender to a luxury yacht – will allow us to apply Aston Martin design language, craftsmanship and brand values to a completely new segment of the market,” says Aston Martin Chief Executive, Dr Ulrich Bez.

I think the whole idea is that for Aston Martin drivers to buy a Cygnet and use it for short commutes, perhaps keeping the Aston Martin for longer trips that call for a GT car, or weekend drives to the golf course, that sort of thing. Well, that’s the official story they’re feeding us anyway. An alternative would be that Aston Martin is trying to reduce its overall average CO2 emissions ratings in order to comply with CO2 laws for its fleet of cars on sale. A low emissions iQ would be able to reduce the overall higher score of its more powerful sports cars. Maybe we’ll all get used to it later but for now I think Aston Martin design cues on a Toyota iQ looks ridiculous.

“The offering of a ‘Cygnet’ with a DBS, DB9 or Vantage is a unique combination of opposites and a novel transport solution allowing intelligent and sensitive mobility on an exclusive and innovative level,” Dr Ulrich Bez added.

This Aston Martin Rapide suspected to be very close to production was spotted in Belgium and snapped by kim of Autogespot. The car looks pretty much undisguised, and while it’s still as good-looking as all Aston Martin can be, I feel the concept car somehow looked longer and sleeker, and this production version has its proportions slightly out of whack because of those headlamps that look a little too large for the car and seem to have some kind of extra layer over it. Look after the jump for a trip back through time, revisiting the original concept Rapide through a photo gallery.

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The semi-mysterious Aston Martin One-77 has finally been unveiled at the Concorso d’Eleganza in Italy, where it won the Concorso d’Eleganza Design Award for Concept Cars and Prototypes, which was decided by public voting among the attendees of the show. The One-77 garnered 30% of total votes.

“Embodying everything Aston Martin stands for; the One-77 has proven itself as the most desirable automotive art form at its premiere today. We have achieved a new level of design and craftsmanship which has been clearly recognised by the public here in the homeland of design at Villa d’Este,” said Dr Ulrich Bez, Aston Martin’s CEO.

The One-77 is one of the most aggressive-looking Astons to date, and features a 7.3 liter normally aspirated V12 engine that puts out over 700 horses which is plenty for a car that is said to weigh only about 1,500kg – that’s just a couple of more tens of kgs more than the Proton Exora.

Look after the jump for a gallery of the One-77.

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The Aston Martin Rapide is still on schedule for a late 2009 debut and has now entered the final stages of its development process. It’s been a long time since the concept was shown in 2006 but it still looks as sexy as ever, a timeless design!

Under the hood will be a 470 horsepower 600Nm V12 engine with 6.0 liters of displacement, hand-built at Aston Martin’s Cologne factory. There will be no funky all-wheel drive system here, the engine puts its power through the rear wheels only through a Touchtronic transmission. The whole car will be built at Magna Steyr’s facilities in Austria.

The Rapide will feature “swan wing” doors, which rise upwards and outsides as they open to facilitate access to the individual rear seats. Yes, this baby will be a 4-seater, with individually crafted sports seats at the rear.

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Aston Martin picked a peculiar spot to reveal its latest Aston Martin Lagonda concept car, this time in a sedan bodystyle. While the first Lagonda Concept SUV got a Geneva debut, this concept was unveiled at the Thai show last week. These pics were provided by Theophilus Chin who was at the show. Details are scarce but with Aston Martin’s V12 likely to be used, the sedan promises to be a fast rival to the likes of the Maserati Quattroporte and the Mercedes-Benz CLS.

Joining the One-77 super car, the Lagonda Concept and the DBS Volante at Aston Martin’s display booth at Geneva 2009 is the V12 Vantage. Powered by a 6.0 liter V12 that churns out 510HP and 570Nm of meters of pulling power, the V12 Vantage is able is able to hit the 100 km/h mark in just 4.2 seconds, and is able take the driver to a top speed of 305 km/h which is a huge margin over the base Vantage with a V8 power plant.

With design cues taken from the V12 Vantage RS Concept, the production version is treated to an aggressive front end with larger air intakes, a lower spoiler, improved side skirts, new wheels, a new diffuser with dual exhaust tail pipes, as well as clear headlights which I am really not a fan of.

The British sports car maker revealed that the V12 Vantage is based on a limited 1000-unit production run and potential owner can expect deliveries by the third quarter of this year. Please click here for detailed information regarding the new Vantage as well as to view an image gallery.

Joining the Aston Martin One-77 and Lagonda Concept at the Geneva Motor Show is the DBS Volante which is Aston’s 16th convertible. With a motorized retractable convertible top that is designed to copy the silhouette of the DBS Coupe, the Volante is powered by a 6.0 liter V12 that is able produce 510HP and 570Nm of torque which sprints the convertible to 100 km/h in just 4.3 seconds, all the way to a top speed of 307 km/h. Click here to learn more about the DBS Volante. Continue reading to view an image gallery.

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British auto maker Aston Martin has revived the Lagonda luxury model designation by presenting the Lagonda Concept at the Geneva Motor Show. Positioned as a luxury four wheel drive 4-seater, the Lagonda is powered by a V12 power plant, although the auto maker did not reveal performance figures. However, if the engine is based on the 6.0 liter V12 that is also found in the DBS Volante, then it is safe to expect horse power and torque figures to hover over the 500 and 550 regions respectively.

The auto maker also revealed that the concept’s platform is built to support a number of power trains in the future including diesel and hybrid. It has been said that this is actually one of the first few collaborations between Mercedes-Benz and Aston Martin – it apparently uses the GL-Class platform. Given the super luxury treatment all over the interior, the Lagonda Concept’s exterior design is inspired by a speed boat. Sitting pretty high with large 22-inch wheels, the Lagonda features a rather huge grille up front, with a very curvaceous rear end which seems to feature an almost sedan-like trunk lid. Continue reading to view more images.

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