2006 Aston Martin Db9 on 2040-cars

Auto blog

This Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato Shooting Brake is a masterpiece in pink

Customizing the exterior colors and styling of a car can be boiled down to a general choice: Go with a low-key classic look or take an outlandish approach that makes the car more exclusive. At least one Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato owner went down the latter route and chose a bright pink paint job for their shooting brake. Brought to our attention by Jalopnik, the car popped up on President and Group CEO Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd Andy Palmer's Instagram. " My Friday factory walk (Gemba) and I came across this beautiful Zagato Shooting Brake about to be shipped," he said on the post. "It's certainly going to stand out for a lucky customer." Stand out, it will. The pink paint, with black wheels and gold accents, adds a new element of uniqueness to the car. As an Aston Martin, it was already a premium sports car. The Zagato treatment makes it even more rare, as does the gorgeous shooting brake bodywork. For some people, that's enough. For others, that the car alone doesn't fully display their character and personality. This is the second time the Vanquish Zagatos have come up in the news in the past week. A different owner chose the classic Villa d'Este paint scheme, but went all out and bought one of each of the Zagato styles. Regardless of which style you prefer, this pink Aston proves one thing: this Zagato looks good in any color. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Andy Palmer (@andyataston) on Dec 8, 2018 at 3:50am PST Related Video:

Aston Martin working on a limited-edition DBR1-inspired speedster?

The Supercar Blog has heard from its supercar-privy sources that Aston Martin might be working on a new speedster. The putative roofless model could be inspired by the most important and most valuable racer in Aston Martin's history, the DBR1 that took overall honors at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1959. Thought to be limited to just 88 units, TSB said the carmaker might have held a VIP preview event during Monterey Car Week last month. If the English luxury maker is developing such a model, we can probably declare the speedster era officially open for business after the limited-edition Ferrari SP1 and SP2 Monzas, Porsche 911 Speedster, and the Ultimate Series speedster that McLaren recently admitted is on the way. As with the Aston Martin, all of the other high-bucks open-sky models take inspiration from racers of yesteryear.  Furthermore, if Aston Martin really has such plans, the carmaker would be re-opening a six-year-old chapter in company history. In 2013, Aston Martin unveiled the CC100 Speedster (pictured) at the 2013 Nurburgring 24-Hour race, created in just six months to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford deciding to build vehicles together. The CC100 was built on the VH platform utilized by the brand's production cars, and used a 6.0-liter V12 with 565 horsepower to do 0-60 mph in four seconds and reach a top speed of 180 mph. The carmaker built two of them, sold to collectors very close to the brand. Today's DBS Superleggera platform and its 5.2-liter, 715-hp V12 could make a suitable base, and who knows, Aston Martin — unlike Ferrari or McLaren — could go all the way and swap the DBS' eight-speed automatic for a manual transmission. Another site said the speedster impetus comes from "the high interest demonstrated by multiple collectors." No one has any insight on the symbolism of 88 units, though. Aston Martin did release a series of Dragon 88 models in 2012 for the Asian market, named for the auspicious omens associated with the number 8 in Chinese culture, and the Interush International team entered a #88 Vantage GT3 race car in the 2015 GT Asia Series, but that seems a gossamer thin connection. The Aston Martin One-77, after all, had a lot of sevens in its spec sheet, but was half named for its production volume. If there is a vintage-themed speedster on the way, we'll know more when Aston Martin decides to admit it.

Andy Palmer leaves Renault-Nissan to serve as CEO of Aston Martin

Aston Martin has been without a helmsman since Ulrich Bez stepped down from the chief executive office at the end of last year, stepping back to serve as non-executive chairman in a semi-retired ambassadorial capacity. The British automaker, now on the cusp of a new era, has been running without a CEO since, but has now named Bez's replacement in Andy Palmer.
If you don't recognize the name, you should: Palmer has worked under the Renault-Nissan Alliance for decades now, rising through the ranks to become one of the top executives under Carlos Ghosn. Most recently he was serving as executive vice president of the entire group and chairman of the Infiniti brand, but like Carlos Tavares, who recently left Renault to run Peugeot, Palmer is now embarking on a new mission as CEO of Aston Martin.
Once the transition period is complete at the start of October, Palmer's role as Chief Planning Officer at Renault-Nissan will be assumed by Philippe Klein, who steps up from his current role as executive vice president of product planning for Renault. Read the statements from both companies below.