2017 Aston Martin Vantage leads Aston's new model blitz

Aston Martin will follow its recently unveiled DB11 with a minimum of five all-new models in the next four years. They will span three distinct model lines and form part of a plan to build 7000 cars per year by 2020.

The DB11, a GT, was revealed at the recent Geneva motor show and will be on sale in the summer. It will be joined next year by an all-new Vantage sports car heavily inspired by the DB10 created for the James Bond film Spectre and by a replacement for the Vanquish in 2018. Both models will be built on versions of the DB11’s all-new aluminium architecture in Aston’s core sports and GT model line.

By the end of the decade, Aston will also have on sale two models with no direct predecessors in new, separate model lines: the DBX crossover and an all-new Lagonda saloon.

These models will make up the core of the Aston Martin range, but every year Aston will also launch two ‘special’ cars. Previous examples include last year’s Vulcan hypercar and the potentVantage GT12.

Another new arrival will be Aston’s first electric car - an all-electric version of the Rapide saloon, due in 2018.

The model plan is the brainchild of boss Andy Palmer, who joined the firm in 2014 after a stellar career at Nissan.

NEW VANTAGE

The DB11 is the first car in the new model plan and the second, the Vantage, will arrive next year. The new Vantage is tipped to be revealed in autumn 2017 and on sale by year’s end.

Palmer, speaking to Autocar at the Geneva show, said the design had been fixed and described its styling as the “love child of DB10 and DBX”. Palmer has told design chief Marek Reichman to make each Aston design more distinctive, to “create different personalities for the cars”. As a result, the Vantage will be made considerably sportier for its second generation.

“We’re not cookie cutting now,” he said. “The brief is to make each model look like an Aston, but next to each other my 77-year-old mother must be able to tell them apart. The DB11 is a GT. You do long distances in it and it has a comfortable ride. The Vantage is our race car. It’s the weekend warrior. It’s the track car - much edgier.”

Reichman said the Vantage would be “completely different from the DB11, with not a panel in common. In design terms, it owes more to 007’s DB10”. Indeed, the original design sketch the Bond producers were drawn to when discussing the DB10 was an early one of the new Vantage.

One Aston insider also said: “While the DB11 makes you want to stop and look at it, the Vantage’s shape is so sporting that it makes you just want to get in and drive.”

The new Vantage will be built at Aston’s Gaydon HQ on a shortened version of the DB11’s new bonded and riveted aluminium architecture. It’s likely to follow the template of the DB11 in being slightly longer, wider and lower than the model it replaces, with a longer wheelbase. Expect the DB11’s interior technology to carry over in a much sportier cabin.

The Vantage is expected to usher Mercedes-AMG-sourced turbocharged 4.0-litre V8 engines into the Aston range. It’s likely to be offered in two states of tune: around 400bhp in the base model and 450bhp in the Vantage S, although these are conservative estimates. The DB11’s all-new twin-turbo 5.2-litre V12 should also make it into the Vantage to create a range-topping model.

There’s more of a question mark over the V8 being offered in the DB11, but this is likely to come for more CO2-conscious markets.

“The Vantage is the perfect car for the V8,” said Palmer. “The DB11 will be first introduced as a V12.”

So keen will Aston be to push the rear-wheel-drive Vantage as its sporty model that it could be sold with a six-speed manual gearbox only. The DB11 has an eight-speed automatic as an option. Palmer is not a fan of dual-clutch automatic gearboxes.

The Vantage will also be used to underpin Aston’s next Le Mans racer, expected around 2018-2019. 

NEW VANQUISH

Following the Vantage in 2018 will be an all-new Vanquish. Palmer is still deciding whether it should be a much-enhanced GT version of the DB11 or a full-blown supercar.

Whatever is decided, the next Vanquish is likely to offer a hugely more powerful version of the DB11’s new V12 engine. Ferrari F12tdf levels of power north of 750bhp are possible. However, outright power is not the chief target for the Vanquish and its ultimate potential could even be capped by the torque capabilities of the gearbox.

RAPIDE EV

Around the same time as the Vanquish, Aston will put its electric version of the Rapide, the RapidE, into production.

Aston has teamed up with Chinese technology firm Letv to develop the RapidE’s technology in-house, rather than buy it in from Mercedes or elsewhere.

“We’re doing it ourselves to learn about batteries and electric motors and it gives us the choice,” said Palmer.

The technology will be used to influence future hybrid Astons, which Palmer confirmed as being “inevitable” to meet future clean air regulations, particularly in California.

The Rapide sports saloon line-up will be electric-only in due course but still built on the old VH architecture. When RapidE production ends, the model will not be replaced. The role of an Aston saloon will be filled by the reborn Lagonda.

DBX CROSSOVER

Once Aston’s core range of GT and sports cars is in place - including convertible versions of the DB11, Vantage and Vanquish, which Palmer has confirmed - the firm will switch its attention to launching the DBX in 2018-2019. This will be built at a new facility in Wales and underpinned by a new Aston architecture derived from but not the same as the DB11’s. There had been speculation that Aston would source the DBX’s architecture from elsewhere due to its crossover bodystyle.

“We made a decision on the DBX to use the aluminium bonding technique,” said Palmer. “It’s not this platform [the DB11’s] but uses the same technology in the architecture. The DB11 and DBX are significant cars for the company. The DB11 is punch one for the sports cars and the DBX is punch two for the new models. Punch three is the Lagonda saloon.”

LAGONDA SALOON

Aston brought back the Lagonda name last year on the Taraf saloon. It is limited to 200 units and in production until the end of 2017 at the latest.

The Lagonda Taraf was originally due to be launched in the Middle East only, but Palmer made it a global model to reintroduce the Lagonda name to the market ahead of an all-new Lagonda saloon due in 2020, or 2021 at the latest.

It will also be built on a new DB11-derived architecture, giving Aston three distinct platforms. “It’s not a new kit for one [model],” said Palmer. “We can carry over and forward. It’s three platforms and two Meccano boxes.”

On the launch of the Taraf, Palmer said: “It’s seeding the brand in anticipation of 2020-2021, when we relaunch it. We want to define it. If Rolls-Royce makes the first-class cabin of a Boeing 777, we want to create Concorde. It will be a different car in the luxury segment, a substantial car.

“If I launched the next-gen car tomorrow, I’d have an awareness problem. We’re now planting that seed.”

The new factory in Wales is likely to build the Lagonda saloon as well as the DBX, Autocar understands.

DOUBLING THE VOLUME

With those six models, Aston plans to sell around 7000 cars a year, double its 2015 total. Palmer is wary of going any higher because he believes this would undermine the brand.

“In volume terms, we will remain a luxury, exclusive brand,” he said. “If a lot of people want it, there will be a long waiting list.

“You could add volume, but no one really knows what the limit is for too many: 9000, 10,000, 15,000? Make too many and you wake up one day making luxury premium cars rather than luxury luxury cars.”

As well as its core models, Aston will launch ‘specials’. “We will do two specials a year,” said Palmer. “We have signed off two for this year. Limited editions are what become collectable. The GT12 and Vulcan were last year’s.

“This year’s are both road cars, a mixture of old and new architecture. They will gradually [be derived from] the new architecture in the future.”

Aston Martin Teams With Faraday Future For Electric Cars

Aston Martin and Faraday Future have announced a new partnership. Every major car maker is pushing hard to get electric cars into production. For many, working with partners seems like the simplest way to make that happen. The first electric Aston Martin will be the RapidE, an all electric version of its Rapide S sedan. Faraday Future is bankrolled by Chinese company LeTV, which is owned by billionaire tech entrepreneur Jia Yueting.  It has recently rebranded itself as LeEco.

Aston Martin head Andy Palmer told a news conference in Frankfurt, Germany this week the partnership “[B]rings Aston Martin’s electric car project forward. He expects the car, which will be built at the firm’s assembly plant in  Gaydon, England, to go on sale in 2018.

LeEco, a consumer electronics company which offers branded content via the Internet, television set top boxes, and smartphones hopes to use its captive audience and celebrity endorsements to promote cars in future, according to Reuters. “In China we have around 300 million people who visit our website. We could advertise the Aston Martin for free. And we can use celebrities to promote our vehicle. This is the way we do business,” said Lei Ding, co-founder of LeEco’s auto division. He previously held senior positions at joint ventures of Volkswagen and General Motors in China.

As part of the deal, Aston Martin is expected to collaborate with Faraday Future on “a range of next generation connected electric vehicles,” according to an Aston Martin press release.

The key innovation that Faraday Future brings to the table is its scalable electric vehicle architecture that permits a variety of chassis dimensions and battery configurations while using the same basic platform. That is expected to allow Faraday Future to develop a wide range of new electric vehicles at less cost. It will also give it broad flexibility to produce cars that are in demand as the marketplace of the future changes.

Faraday is building a new hi-tech factory near Las Vegas but has not released any details about what sorts of cars it intends to manufacture there. While the world is crying out for inexpensive electric cars, most car makers want to follow Tesla’s lead and make only high profit premium vehicles for the world’s wealthiest consumers. It is unlikely that the Aston Martin RapidE will appeal to many low income shoppers.

Next Aston Martin Rapide Will Be Rapid — And Electric!

Ever since James Bond drove a silver Aston Martin DB5 equipped with machine guns, an ejector seat, and metal shredding wheel nuts, Astons have been known as silky, slinky toys for wealthy British gentlemen who wished to be seen as dashing and debonair. The company’s 12 cylinder Rapide sedan is the epitome of what an Aston Martin with 4 doors and room for 5 should be — a potent chariot for the powerful.

Speaking at the Bloomberg New Energy Finance conference this week, Aston’s CEO, Andy Palmer, talked about the next Rapide. “We’re a V-12 engine company. Project that into the future. Do I go the way of the rest of the industry and downsize the engine? Do I see Aston Martin with a three cylinder engine? God forbid! You’ve got to do something radical. Electric power gives you that power. It gives you that torque.”

The British company is working on a battery-powered version of the Aston Martin Rapide sports car that will be available as early as at the end of 2017 followed by a new electric DBX crossover, Palmer said. He promised both cars will uphold Aston Martin’s traditions by embodying “power, beauty and soul.” Then he went on to offer a hint about the next Rapide. “We’re talking about an electric Aston Martin with between 800 and 1,000 horsepower — imagine having all that torque on demand.” It’s certainly something nice to think about.

Palmer’s vision for the future of Aston Martin takes into account the plunging costs for electric cars and how stricter emissions regulations will eat away at the economics of conventional fossil engines. Palmer said it’s inevitable that the entire industry will shift over to electricity, if only because it’s the most plausible way to deliver the power drivers expect. The company has no interest in competing with Tesla’s more affordable Model 3, Palmer said. It wants to avoid anything “vanilla in the middle.”

Then Palmer offered his opinions on the future of the car business. All carmakers face the same challenges, he says — how to get millennials back into cars, how to integrate self-driving technology, and how to cope with emissions rules. “It means our customers aren’t going to trust us for a while. It also means that time is up for the diesel. In markets where you have a lot of installed capacity, diesel will go through a slow death.”

Hybrid gasoline engines that incorporate battery power will become widespread, he thinks. Over time, attention will shift toward fully electric cars, whose costs will plunge as automakers improve the technology. Palmer scoffed at the idea that hydrogen fuel cells will become widespread, noting there are few places where they can refuel. “We have to overcome the range anxiety [with electric cars],” he said. “But that’s much better than the range panic that you’re going to get from having only four hydrogen stations in the UK. There are [charging stations] everywhere.”

Having Aston Martins featured in movies about Britain’s super-spy, 007, hasn’t hurt the company’s image one bit. Palmer things James Bond might even drive an electric Aston in a future film. “It’s an awfully good getaway vehicle,” he said. “I don’t think James really cares what the power train is as long as it’s fast and beautiful.” Most future Aston Martin customers would probably agree.

Photo Credit:Aston Martin

New Bond Car Would Get Crushed By Tesla Model S P90DL

As I just wrote, the terminology I will now use for the Ludicrous Tesla Model S is Tesla Model S P90DL(or if I get lazy, Tesla P90DL… or if I get really lazy, P90DL… or if I get super lazy, L). Moving on… Tesla Motors Club forum member “robertvg” noticed today in a just-released 007 Spectre trailer that the next James Bond car will go from 0 to 60 mph in a whopping… 3.2 seconds.

Wah wah.

Of course, the folks over in the Tesla Motors Club forum lamented that Bond wouldn’t be driving the P90DL. Aside from getting to 60 mph in a much quicker 2.8 seconds, there’s a lot of fun you could have with a quiet, electrified car.

By the way, Bond’s car in 007 Spectre is the Aston Martin DB10. Cool car, but as inadequate as all of these Ferraris, Lamborghinis, McLarens, and Porsches compared to the P90DL. If you haven’t already clicked the YouTube link above, here’s the trailer (I’m eager to see the film):

Ferrari California T vs Porsche 911 Turbo S, Aston V12 Vantage S

The California gains a new turbo V8 but has it retained its Ferrari soul? we pit it against its rivals to find out

Of all the colourful phrases tossed around our office like wedding confetti, none is treated with greater reverence than ‘fitness for purpose’.

It is the bedrock on which any Autocar verdict is built, the reason we can gush convincingly about a people-carrier one week and a three-wheeler the next, and easily the best justification for lending us your credence every week.

Manufacturers like it, too. They measure it with micrometers. They devote small armies to the business of probing, canvassing, questioning and comparing. They agonise over positioning with the sensitivity of a Mars orbiter mission planner. Their failures tend to play out similarly, too – no visible mushroom cloud, just a shoulder-shrug fizzle of disappointment.

The previous Ferrari California could be characterised thusly. It was a smorgasbord of brand firsts – first fully retractable hard-top, first dual-clutch automatic gearbox, first front-mounted V8 – but it came across as only a middling effort, probably made to look softer than it was by the outgoing 430 Scuderia and incoming 458, both hewn in purpose like carbon-ceramic arrowheads. 

Its replacement lobs in another first: the first Ferrari in nearly three decades to feature forced induction. Turbocharging increases accessibility, but that was not the California’s underlying fault. It lacked not functionality but a convincing character. And for a Ferrari, being under-endowed with soul is like discovering the Land Rover Defender’s replacement is thwarted by wet grass.

To find out whether or not the new, vastly more powerful V8 engine has solved the problem (or compounded it), we’re plunging theCalifornia under the Brecon Beacons microscope side by side with two carefully selected slides: a Porsche 911 Turbo S Cabriolet against which to measure its heady, all-round GT talent and, as a pleasure-giving benchmark, the atavistic Aston Martin 
V12 Vantage S Roadster.

Circumstance means covering most of the M4 between London and Wales in the 911, but the obvious question occurs inside the M25: is there another car, currently on sale, that goes from congenial to utterly cuckoo quite as rapidly as the 991-generation 911 Turbo? 

There ought not to be any secret about it by now: the most expensive 911, at £149,668, is an upturned bucket of vents and wide-bodied arches mated to Porsche’s latest asymmetric all-wheel drive system and a twin-turbocharged flat six developing, in its S guise, 552bhp. 

But the 991’s transition from butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-its-mouth,Volkswagen Golf R-style good manners to a magistrate-infuriating, superbike-rivalling clip is so self-assured, oily and proficient that it almost feels necessary to summon a shaman to Leigh Delamere services and have its otherworldliness properly investigated.

We don’t have time for that, though, so I pucker up for the Aston instead. Immediately, it’s clear just how much of the burden the 991’s ZF-sourced PDK gearbox must be shouldering. The distance from its dual-clutch slipperiness to the Vantage’s robotised seven-speed Sportshift manual is best measured in light years.

The Aston’s upshifts eventually get quicker, but low down, in auto mode, the car – or more specifically, its phantom menace clutch – remains a head-nodding nuisance. The AM28 engine to which it’s connected, of course, is a peach: 12 cylinders of splendour, not much less tractable than the Porsche and as sumptuously evocative as you’d assume anything producing both 565bhp and 343g/km of CO2 would be.

It makes light work of the Vantage’s heft, but can’t help with the occasionally jagged ride quality or the now overwhelming, inescapable age of the car. The odd interior creak is forgivable (it’s hand-built, after all), the disobliging nature of the switchgear and patent lack of instructive LCD screens less so in a car which starts at £147,000.

The California, mounted at Magor, feels every bit a decade its junior. Mostly that’s because Ferrari, having suffered its own problems with infotainment, has finally grasped the nettle and fitted a 6.5in touchscreen full of features – even including, optionally, Apple’s new CarPlay system. 

At the business end of the M4 motorway, such toys are welcome, and together with that hard-top and armchair-style seating, it’s apparent without moving an inch that this is a Ferrari fettled with serious range in mind. It’s still, though, a hard setting to adore. To these eyes, the flagrantly prettier Vantage still has more panache and the Porsche, apparently constructed to the tolerances expected of a vacuum chamber, seems better built.

Mercifully, the steering wheel and clay-red rev counter live up to expectations; the first because it’s nicer to hold than your first girlfriend’s hand, and the second because its readout doesn’t turn scarlet until 8000rpm. It isn’t unusual in a Ferrari to feel like most of your cash – £154,490 in this case – has been spent under the bonnet and, turbochargers or not, that’s the way it is in the California.

Anyway you cut it, the all-new 3.9-litre engine is a remarkable lump, one part cutting-edge technological oddity, three parts old-school flat-plane-crank V8. It feels precisely as it is: a very expensive attempt to make a square peg entirely resemble a round hole.

Thus it revs with agitated enthusiasm, howls through a gauze and draws breath like it were trapped in a Regency corset. Its Variable Boost Management system, a fiendishly clever software method of progressively increasing the available twist in higher gears, is best appreciated on the motorway, where the final ratio of the excellent F1 dual-clutch transmission – and all 557lb ft of torque – gives the California a super-cruise to almost rival the Vantage’s big-displacement largesse.

In ride quality, it trumps the Aston Martin outright. Ferrari points to the deployment of its latest generation of magneto-rheological dampers, but the old-fashioned truth is that the Vantage feels like a sports car compromised by the loss of its roof. The California doesn’t and, in Comfort mode, it is the closest here to modulating long-frequency undulations in the manner of a grand tourer.

The 911, in comparison, feels tacked down like linoleum. The bump absorption and noise suppression are phenomenal, considering, but the weightiness of its steering can make it wearing on the wrists over time. With only one hand clamped to the wheel, the Ferrari can be aimed with the floating accuracy of iron sights.

Once at the foot of the Brecons, however, where the roads are varnished with a cruel slick of salt, fast-melting snow and grime, the advantage swings decisively back the other way. 

These cars have been delivered on a wildly different Pirellis – the California on wintery Sottazeros, the Vantage on summery Corsas – so a totally unbiased evaluation of handling is tricky. But it doesn’t feel like a stretch to suggest that caterpillar tracks would have been required by the rear-drive contingent to keep up with the 911 west of Crickhowell.

Roof ajar, you sit in a tiny pocket of calm amid the massive squall, and continually work your 
neck muscles lest your head fall off. Even a 0-62mph time of 3.1sec fails to properly characterise the brutality of the car’s acceleration through the low gears. 

Consequently, the nicest thing to probably say about it is that it still feels very much all of a thing, which is a massive testament to the steering, brakes, adaptive chassis, dynamic mounts, diffs, clutches and traction management that keep it all kerbside. It is as much a test of nerve as skill, although the visceral, aerated reward is undeniable.

The courage demanded by the Vantage, on the other hand, verges too close to foolhardiness for most. Even in ideal conditions, the V12 is the sort of car you deliberate over unleashing.

On the B4560, at dusk in February wearing track-friendly tyres, it feels vastly more prudent to tiptoe about the place. Unfortunately, the sensitive approach doesn’t really suit the Aston. Its hydraulic steering feels inconsistent at modest speeds and the engine sneers at you above 2000rpm, its exhaust valves audible even over the gale greedily sucking warm air directly from the vents.

It’s a shame, because (much) later, on drier, Surrey-based B-roads, the model’s palpable finesse returns. There its traction is negotiable rather than precarious; parleyed though the suddenly spot-on steering, amenable LSD and brontide emulator upfront. 

So all credit to the California that it doesn’t require extracurricular context to render a quicker pulse. Partly, of course, this is a trait of the tyres. But it also has much to do with the way the car has been set up.

Regardless of the congeniality displayed elsewhere, Ferrari has clearly worked hard – with mildly stiffer springs and a lower mounted engine – to deliver a more convincing version of the seemingly highly strung, invariably pointy dynamic that characterises its current generation of road cars.

Read the Porsche 911 Turbo S first drive review

In Wales, this works far better at seven-tenths effort than the Vantage, where its slightly flightier poise and tremendous eagerness to turn in are complemented by the superior deployment of its power – a virtue of the surprisingly nannying F1-trac system. 

Granted, it’s not in the relentless 911’s league, but the V8’s peak effort comes at a heady 7500rpm nonetheless, and turbo lag is arguably even less perceptible than in the Porsche. 

The shortfall, only hinted at atop Brecon, is that at nine-tenths, the playful naturalism conjured up later on by the Vantage is possibly not in the California’s repertoire, its leggier body control, lighter steering and less assured front end poking through the veneer of its hitherto dainty balance.

The verdict

That’s fine and fitting, but it does make the podium places tricky. Truthfully, the Aston, hobbled by age and inclemency, struggled in Wales. That it shone in more conducive conditions speaks directly to both its intrinsic charisma and the now patent limitations that bookend it. Irrefutably, the Vantage chafes when not engaged with. And if we’re going to end where we started, that makes it fit primarily for a narrowband audience.

Attune yourself to its frequency, though, take it from the box when all is warm and right with the world, and it dazzles like a lead-weighted Caterham. For the final 12-cylinder hurrah on nirvana’s roundabout, I’d except no substitute.

Nonetheless, back in the real world, with year-round use in mind, I’d now be tempted to invest in Ferrari’s rekindled West Coast vision. In the final analysis, the California isn’t searingly brilliant, but with that space-age V8 and sharper handling, it feels at last like there might be real blood coursing through its metaphoric veins.

Where the Vantage tantalises sporadically, it gratifies consistently, being both the most usable Ferrari I’ve driven and yet now, tangibly, a product of the Prancing Horse stable rather than the profitable ringer it was.

However, by the same standard with which the California trumps the Vantage, it is thoroughly trounced by the 911. ‘Weapon’ was the word most frequently brandished as night descended in Wales, as ferocious and true a descriptive as I can summon up here. Yes, the weather favoured it, but the next day I drove the car back to the office, and could have happily driven it straight through London, Kent, Antwerp and Dusseldorf, too.

Porsche calls the Turbo its benchmark, and with no roof to take the edge off, that’s precisely what it threatens to be. Fitness for purpose? The 911 is the car I’d choose, post-apocalypse, to check on the sky. It’s that preposterous. 

Read Autocar's previous comparison - Porsche 911 GT3 versus 911 GTS and Cayman GTS

Porsche 911 Turbo S

Price £150,857; Engine 6 cyls, 3800cc, turbocharged, petrol;Power 552bhp at 6500rpm; Torque 553lb ft at 2100-4250rpm;Gearbox 7-spd dual-clutch auto; Kerb weight 1750kg; Top speed197mph; 0-62mph 3.1sec; Economy 29mpg; CO2 231g/km

Ferrari California T

Price £154,490; Engine V8, 3855cc, turbocharged, petrol; Power552bhp at 7500rpm; Torque 557lb ft at 4750rpm; Gearbox 7-spd dual-clutch auto; Kerb weight 1730kg; Top speed 196mph; 0-62mph 3.6sec; Economy 24.1mpg; CO2 273g/km

Aston Martin V12 Vantage S

Price £147,000; Engine V12, 5935cc, petrol; Power 565bhp at 6750rpm; Torque 457lb ft at 5500rpm; Gearbox 7-spd automated manual; Kerb weight 1745kg; Top speed 201mph; 0-62mph3.9sec; Economy 19.2mpg; CO2 343g/km

Half Of Nissan LEAF Owners Swear Off Gas For Good

Electric cars are more than just a revolution in reducing emissions; they are quieter, smoother, cheaper to operate than conventional car, and it’s making true believers out of owners. In a recent survey, more than half of Nissan LEAF owners said they would never go back to gas after driving electric, and 95% would recommend it to a friend.

That’s just a taste of the revelations brought about by the survey on the fourth anniversary of the first LEAF sale. For example, one Aston Martin owner traded in his sports car for a pair of LEAFs, and another LEAF owner claims he has spent just £400 ($626) in 22,000 miles of driving. 93% of LEAF drivers use it as the primary family vehicle, and 64% say it’s a better driving experience than conventional gas-powered cars, especially when it comes to fuel savings. The average LEAF owner reported savings of £250 a month, which gives you an idea of just how expensive fuel is in the UK, and 41% of owners say it has positively changed their view of driving in general.

Granted, this does come from a country that can be crossed in less than a day. However, studies have shown that even the 83 miles of the Nissan LEAF is enough to cover about 95% of daily driving trips, even in America. For everything else, there’s the Tesla Model S, though LEAF sales have taken off in the past year, especially in the US and Europe.

I know electric cars still aren’t for everyone, but as more people get behind the wheel, the benefits EVs will become better known. Not only do they cost less in fuel, but maintenance is pretty much non-existent, as is motor noise, and the seamless shiftless transmission means no more herky-jerky shifts as you accelerate. With more than 150,000 Nissan LEAF EVs now in service across the globe, going electric is proving to be more than just a fad. It’s a better way to drive.

Tesla promises realistic pricing for new BMW 3-series rival

Telsa’s upcoming compact electric saloon will be “realistically” priced against rivals such as the Audi A4 and BMW 3-series, according to Chris Porritt, the company’s vice-president of engineering. 

Porritt, a Brit who left Aston Martin last year to join Tesla, told Autocar that the price of batteries was the key calculation when engineering the model, which is expected in late 2016-early 2017. “Building the Gigafactory will help make battery manufacturing more cost-effective,” he said. 

Porritt also said that the small car would be constructed from “appropriate materials” and would not be based on the same all-aluminium platform as the Model S. Tesla boss Elon Musk has already revealed that the new ‘Model E’ will be about 20 per cent smaller than today’s Model S.

Porritt said:  “I expect there will be very little carry-over. We’ve got to be cost-effective. We can’t use aluminium for all the [small car’s] components.” This suggests that the Model E will use mostly steel in its make-up, although it will probably use bonding and rivets in its construction.

When Autocar spoke to Porritt, he was at Tesla’s southern California studio working on the upcoming Model X SUV. He said the seven–seater was based on the same platform and wheelbase as the Model S saloon, but some of the suspension had been changed. 

He said the unusual ‘swan wing’ rear doors had been designed to make it easier to load children, as well as making the third row of seats more accessible. They will appear on the showroom version, which is due to go on sale late next year.

Porritt said he has been working on the Model S, refining the manufacturing process and modifying components so that they can be made more efficiently. He also executed the conversion to right-hand drive, opening up markets in the UK, Japan, Australia and Hong Kong. 

Porritt was bullish about the further potential for the expanding Tesla brand. “If you get the car right, it doesn’t matter that it’s electric,” he said. He was scathing about the studied “differentness” of electric cars such as the Nissan Leaf. “People don’t want to look eccentric. They want to have pride in their car’s looks. Our biggest advocates are our [existing] customers,” he said.

Tesla is currently building 600 examples of the Model S each week at its factory in Freemont and expects Model X sales to add significantly to that total. The factory has a theoretical capacity of 500,000 vehicles per year. 

Source: Autocar

The Aston Martin Cygnet is No More

First announced way back in 2009, Aston Martin’s tiny Cygnet city-car was to be the ideal “daily driver” for Aston’s GT-driving customers. Based on the Toyota Scion iQ microcar, the Cygnet offered commuters easy parking and good MPG in a super-luxurious package trimmed with the finest woods, leathers, and more. The fact that the Cygnet was also an Ultra-low Emissions Vehicle (ULEV) didn’t hurt it any in Europe, either, where many city centers tax vehicles on emissions.

Most people didn’t really know what to make of the Cygnet, since “compact” and “luxury” usually only make sense to people who’ve owned a couple of Lancias. Seeing as I have, I loved it. I loved the Aston Martin Cygnet when it was painted in the legendary Gulf racing colors. I loved it (almost ironically) when it was slathered in gold.

Heck, I even loved the Cygnet when it was “just” a Scion iQ (even if I did think it could use more fine woods and leathers). Oh, well – the littlest Aston is no more. Here’s hoping it transmogrifies into a littlest Lexus or something down the road.

Source: Green Car Reports.

That Seems Wrong: Diesel Maserati

Call me a heretic, or call me a true believer. Either way, a sexy, slinky Maserati should not, must not, cannot have a low-revving, high-torque diesel 6 under the hood. It’s sick. It’s wrong. And yet, here we are.

Welcome to the brave new world, kids. For the most part, it’s pretty awesome here. We have 740 hp Aston Martin hybrids, 8-second GTRs, and at least a few people who understand that you can, in fact, combine new technology and classic style to get the best of both world (on two wheels and four). On the other hand, though, we have heresies like the diesel Maserati.

Let’s just get through this, shall we?

The new-for-2014 Maserati Ghibli is based, mechanically, on Maserati’s Ferrari-V8-powered GranTurismo coupe. Visually, however, the car has more than a passing resemblance to its big brother, the also-Ferrari-V8-powered Quattroporte. Both cars feature strong creases over the rear wheelarches and a full-width lower grille. To set them apart, visually, the Ghibli gets a shorter rear overhang and slimmer headlights that will be obviously different when the two cars are parked side by side.

To its credit, the new diesel Maserati features a 270 hp twin-turbo V6, which makes it sound similar (on paper, at least) to the BiTurbo Maseratis of the 1980s. Further digging into Maserati’s storied past is the name. The Ghibli, of course, being a classic Maserati that looks like this …

… and is not powered by a diesel 6. To be fair, the old “classic” Ghibli doen’t get 48 MPG, either, while the new one does. Still, that doesn’t feel like consolation to me.

What do you think, dear readers? Does the diesel Maserati have legs, or would some things be better off in the dustbin of antiquity? Let us know, in the comments.

Source | Photos: AutoExpress, BoldRide.

Bosch Builds 740 hp, AWD, V12, Hybrid Aston Martin Supercar

In an effort to prove that hybrid technology and electric motors can improve the driving experience, automotive electronics supplier Bosch has built a 740 hp, all-wheel-drive, V12-powered Aston Martin hybrid supercar. As a professional car guy, let me assure you: this car is yummy!

Under the hood, the curvy Aston DB9 keeps its familiar, 510 hp 6.0L V12, but that ICE engine is supplemented by a pair of electric motors driving the front wheels. The added boost of the hybrid drivetrain bumps the hybrid Aston Martin’s total output from 510 to “over 740bhp”, according to Bosch engineers. Speaking of engineers, Bosch has had more than 70 engineers working on the car since November 2012 (the hybrid Aston Martin was finished at the end of May, less than a month ago).

That, dear friends, is a lot of brain-power!

With that much high-IQ thinking behind it, it should come as no surprise that this one-off hybrid Aston has some pretty slick features, like vectoring for more neutral handling, as well as mods to Bosch’s latest traction-control systems that allow steering, throttle and steering/handling characteristics to be tuned “on the fly” by the driver, with advanced software taking into account tire temperatures, track conditions, and even the number of passengers and their weight distribution in the car!

Bosch claims that there are currently no plans for a hybrid Aston Martin, but that this hybrid hardware/software package is modular enough to be fitted to any number of vehicles currently using Bosch’s firmware … that list includes Ferrari, Lamborghini, Mercedes-Benz, GM, and other. With that in mind, we may yet still see some of the hybrid Aston’s features in a future showroom, yet!

Source | Photos: Bosch, via AutoExpress.

Hydrogen Aston Martin Rapide To Race In 24 Hour Nurburgring Event

The challenges facing adaption of hydrogen as a fuel are quite staggering, from the high costs of fuel cells to the serious lack of fueling infrastructure. But some automakers are wedded to hydrogen as the future of fuel, and a hydrogen-powered Aston Martin Rapide will take place in next month’s 24 hour endurance race at the famed Nurburgring.

Not to be confused with a fuel-cell vehicle, the Aston Martin Rapide will use a unique drivetrain that can run on hydrogen gas, regular gasoline, or a combination of the two in the twin-turbo 6.0 liter V12 engine.

Aston is promising that the car will run at least one full lap on pure hydrogen, though the engine will be tweaked to deliver maximum power on a combination of the two fuels. This is the first time a hydrogen-powered car will partake in an actual race on the Nurbrugring, though there are other contenders for that title.

While specific specs for this hydrogen-powered Rapide haven’t been released, in stock form the Aston Martin makes 550 horsepower from its V12 engine and can accelerate from 0-60 mph in 4.9 seconds. The hydrogen fuel will be stored in four carbon fiber tanks; two in the trunk, and two next to the driver.

We can’t wait to see how this hydrogen-powered Aston does on one of the world’s most famous race tracks. Here’s hoping hydrogen finds its place as the automotive racing fuel of the future.

Source: Aston Martin