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Driving the Aston Martin DBX, Audi SQ5 and Hyundai Palisade | Autoblog Podcast #670

In this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor, Green, John Beltz Snyder and Contributing Editor Joe Lorio. First, they talk about driving the Aston Martin DBX, Audi SQ5 and Autoblog's new long-term Hyundai Palisade. They discuss the news, including the Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer, the BMW i4 and iX, and the Kia EV6. Last, but not least, they dig into the mailbag to help a listener choose a replacement for a long-serving Honda Pilot. Autoblog Podcast #670 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Cars We're Driving 2021 Aston Martin DBX 2021 Audi SQ5 Long-term 2021 Hyundai Palisade News 2022 Jeep Wagoneer is here: gigantic, luxurious and packing big V8 power BMW EV news BMW Group announces an armada of EVs that includes the full Mini range BMW i4 revealed as the 3 Series' EV sidekick BMW iX xDrive50 isn't just greener on the road, but from the get-go Kia EV6 electric car revealed with curvy sheetmetal Spend My Money Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Autoblog is now live on your smart speakers and voice assistants with the audio Autoblog Daily Digest. Say “Hey Google, play the news from Autoblog” or "Alexa, open Autoblog" to get your favorite car website in audio form every day. A narrator will take you through the biggest stories or break down one of our comprehensive test drives. Related Video: Aston Martin DBX in Stirling Green | On road, off-road and on the track

2012 Pebble Beach Concept Car Lawn offers a tutorial in cars to come

The Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance is a showcase for some of the world's most exquisite vintage vehicles, but if newer metal is more your speed, the Concept Car Lawn is the place to be.
This year saw models from Bugatti, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, McLaren and Bentley as well as SRT, Hennessey, Infiniti and Lexus among others. The ultimate sampler platter of exotic and concept vehicles saw the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse mingle with the Lamborghini Urus Concept and the mighty Hennessey Venom GT, though we found ourselves particularly smitten with the BMW Zagato Roadster and the Aston Martin Vanquish.
Not that we could go wrong anywhere we looked. The 2013 Bentley Continental GT Speed seemed perfectly content parked on the manicured putting green, as did the McLaren MP4-12C Spider. Get cozy with the full gallery below to see the smattering of metal on the lawn.

Aston Martin to raise funds for new models including CUV, hybrid

Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer named three leads for new vehicle programs when he took the reins, now the company is looking for the money to give those leads something to do. Reuters reports that the Gaydon firm is considering debt or equity financing to raise 100 to 150 million pounds ($156M to $234M US) in funding for "an expansion from the current model range," according to an unnamed source. On top of that investment round, Aston Martin is overhauling its working capital streams to unlock more funds. As one of the industry's few remaining independent carmakers, the company has an intense five years ahead of it, working to revamp its current vehicles with a 500-million-pound investment, entering new segments to grow sales to roughly 10,000 units annually from 4,200 cars in 2013, and pay down hundreds of millions of pounds in current debt. The big high notes observers will be looking for over the next few years are the successor to the DB9, pegged for 2016, profitability predicted in 2017, a huge debt note due in 2018, and the formal end of the recovery period in 2020. Our own eyes will be locked on the DB10 in Spectre, naturally, and the Lagonda-honoring Taraf in other markets, hopefully. At least one of the new vehicles is expected to be a crossover, a segment Aston seemingly cannot ignore now that Bentley and Rolls-Royce are committed to making plays there. However, Reuters says an official announcement of what we can expect won't come until the 2015 Geneva Motor Show. Among the other models said to be up for funding? Sedans (perhaps including a Rapide replacement?) and an unspecified hybrid.