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Aston Martin Vantage V12 Zagato goes back into limited production

To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato in 2011, Aston Martin worked with Zagato Milano to create the Vantage V12 Zagato. Aston Martin made 101 of the special editions, available only as a coupe. This year, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Milanese design house, Swiss motorsport company AF Racing has commissioned 38 examples of the Vantage V12 Zagato, consisting of 19 coupes and 19 roadsters. The official name of the redux is Aston Martin Vantage V12 Zagato Heritage TWINS by R-Reforged. When Aston Martin originally announced production they planned to build 150 units, but for unknown reasons that number fell to 101 units. Since no specs have been mentioned, our guess is that the 6.0-liter V12 with 510 horsepower and 420 pound-feet of torque goes unchanged. As far as we can tell, the only differences between these new versions and the previous builds is that the coupe omits the rear spoiler, there's a wider selection of colors, and you can alternatively choose to take the top off. As for the entities behind this, the press release lays out a web of connections we're not totally clear on. The relevant matters are that AF Racing is a Swiss motorsport company that's a project partner on the Aston Martin Valkyrie, and it has a sub-brand called R-Reforged devoted to production-car projects. AF Racing owns a subsidiary in Germany called Vynamic that oversees four Aston Martin Vantage race cars competing in the German DTM Series. Vynamic will actually build the new V12 Zagatos. The rest of the tangled web doesn't matter. AF Racing says deliveries of the new coupes and speedsters will commence at the end of this year. No price has been mentioned, but the original coupes went for 330,000 pounds at the time, which would be $429,000 right now, and probably a good place to start.

The Acura NSX leads this month's list of discounts

For the second time in the last three months, the Acura NSX has a larger monetary discount than any other vehicle in America. Acura's hybrid super coupe packs 573 horsepower under its sleek bodywork, sufficient to send it sailing off to 60 miles per hour in a scant 2.9 seconds. But it doesn't exactly fly off the showroom floor with the same level of urgency. Buyers of the NSX are paying an average of $138,078 right now, which is a savings of $22,823 off its window sticker. That represents a 14.2% discount, which is also the largest percentage savings in February. And if the NSX doesn't quite fit into your future plans, Acura is also heavily discounting the ILX, TLX, RLX and MDX, so much so that those five models from the premium Japanese brand all appear in the top 10 biggest discounts this month. 2020 Acura NSX View 11 Photos The sleek 2020 Aston Martin Vantage slides into second place on the biggest discounts list, with an average of $18,763 lopped off its sticker price resulting in an average transaction price of $137,298. That's awfully close to the out-the-door price of the leading Acura NSX, which is a quicker and more technologically advanced machine, though arguably less traditionally beautiful. Rounding out this month's top three discounts is the 2020 Audi R8, buyers of which are averaging $17,888 off the sticker price for an average transaction of $179,238. Note that the Audi R8 is available as both a coupe and a convertible, with two power levels offered from its standard V10 engine. That means some R8s are certainly going to be much pricier than others. For a look at the best new car deals in America based on the percentage discount off their suggested asking prices, check out our monthly recap here. And when you're ready to buy, click here for the Autoblog Smart Buy program, which brings you a hassle-free buying experience with over 9,000 Certified Dealers nationwide.

Tesla Model S squares off against Aston Martin Rapide S

Can the Tesla Model S electric motor's 443 pound-feet of torque from zero rpm and equivalent of 416 horsepower trump the Aston Martin Rapide S V12's 457 lb-ft from 5500 rpm and 550 hp? Autocar attempts to answer that question by drag racing them - which only leads us to ask more questions. Which is the fastest around a race track? Is the Tesla's relatively low top speed of 130 miles per hour (the Rapide S can reach 190 mph) forgivable in light of its astounding torque? Does that even matter?
We hope Autocar's Steve Sutcliffe will pit the Tesla and the Aston Martin against each other again in the near future to answer those questions, and pick once and for all which one is the preferred luxury sedan. But until then he entertains us in the video below by raving about the Model S's attributes, pitching it into medium-speed sweepers and getting it a bit sideways with nothing but road and tire noise permeating the cabin - something people in the UK can experience for themselves once right-hand-drive cars go on sale there this spring.