09 Aston Martin Db9 Volante Convertible 2-door 6.0l Ken Lingenfelter Collection on 2040-cars

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Aston Martin sues Henrik Fisker over Thunderbolt design

Imitation is supposedly the sincerest form of flattery, but Aston Martin isn't blushing after taking a look at the Fisker Thunderbolt. The british luxury brand has filed a lawsuit against the designer for allegedly copying the company's designs without permission in a US District Court in California. Fisker unveiled the Thunderbolt at the at the 2015 Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance as his own take on the Vanquish. The former Aston Martin stylist's changes included reshaping the grille, adding a power dome to the hood and incorporating wraparound rear glass. The version on display was a concept for the design, but the plan was to sell a slightly modified production version through Galpin Aston Martin. This lawsuit puts assembly in doubt. "This lawsuit centres on Henrik Fisker's creation and promotion of automobiles that Aston Martin contends infringes Aston Martin's rights, by an improper and unauthorised attempt to exploit and free-ride off them," said a portion of a prepared statement from the company emailed to Autoblog (embedded in full below). According to Bloomberg, the automaker claims in the suit that portions of the design, including "the famous Aston Martin mark, wings logo, side vent mark, and Vanquish mark" are being coping in Fisker's design. The business also calls the plan to change the design for the production version a "bait-and-switch." Fisker helped to shape the look of the Aston Martin DB9 and V8 Vantage during his time as a designer at the brand. "Today Aston Martin filed a lawsuit in the state of California to protect its valuable trade marks, designs and intellectual property rights. This lawsuit centres on Henrik Fisker's creation and promotion of automobiles that Aston Martin contends infringes Aston Martin's rights, by an improper and unauthorised attempt to exploit and free-ride off them. Aston Martin regards such conduct as wholly unacceptable and reserves all rights available at law to challenge it."

Aston Martin V12 Speedster DBR1 specification pays homage to a beautiful race car

Aston Martin debuted the limited-run V12 Speedster over a year ago, and today it’s introducing a special edition version of the roofless and windshield-less supercar. ItÂ’s called the DBR1 specification, as it takes after the DBR1 race car from the 1950s.  YouÂ’ll immediately see the resemblance between the two in the gorgeous photos above. The V12 Speedster is finished in the same Aston Martin Racing Green paint, and features the same Clubsport White pinstripe and roundels. A Satin Silver anodized finish is applied to the grille to match, and a Clubsport lipstick graphic caps off the front. You also get 21-inch center-lock wheels finished in a Satin Black paint — Aston says each Speedster in this spec spends over 50 hours in the painting process alone. YouÂ’ll get Conker saddle leather on the inside that is complemented by Viridian Green textile and Caithness leather. The interior also features glossy carbon fiber trim and satin silver brushed aluminum switchgear. Aston says this combo is its modern interpretation of the DBR1Â’s interior. And do remember that there is no roof — we have a feeling that you donÂ’t want this interior getting wet. In case you were curious as to why Aston Martin is using the DBR1 as inspiration here, you should know that the car has a rather commendable history in racing. It won the 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans, is a three-time winner of the 1,000-km of Nurburgring and also took the World Sportscar Championship the year it won Le Mans. On top of that, itÂ’s just flat-out gorgeous. “Creating a bespoke specification that nods to the glory of the DBR1 has been a huge privilege for my team and I, and I very much look forward to seeing these cars being driven with the same enthusiasm that we have applied to their design,” says Marek Reichman, Aston's chief creative officer. This DBR1 specification features the same vitals as the standard V12 Speedster. That means it has a 5.2-liter twin-turbo V12 under its hood that makes 700 horsepower and 555 pound-feet of torque. ItÂ’ll do 0-60 mph in 3.4 seconds on its way to a 198 mph top speed. Have fun doing that without a windshield. Aston says you can order a V12 Speedster in this spec now and expect delivery in mid-2021. No price for the DBR1 was given, but the car starts at about $950,000. We suspect this one is a good bit more, likely arcing past the $1 million mark. Related video:

Red Bull and Aston Martin are working together on a supercar

Ever since Adrian Newey stepped back from the day-to-day at Red Bull Racing last year, we've been wondering what he would do next. And here we very well may have the answer. According to Autocar, the legendary F1 engineer is working on a hardcore, track-focused supercar for Aston Martin. Details are few and far between, but it is believed that the project could make use of a Mercedes engine and take aim at the likes of the Ferrari FXX K and McLaren P1 GTR. That's more or less the same territory Aston is already going after with the Vulcan (pictured), but just how closely aligned the two vehicles would be remains unclear. Newey is said to be keen on making the vehicle road-legal, however – something which the FXX K, P1 GTR, and Vulcan are not. The news comes hot on the heels of an earlier report that indicated Aston Martin and Red Bull were in discussions over a potential partnership in F1 (together with Mercedes). Both developments appear to be stemming from the same rapprochement between the two outfits, but are said to be independent of one another in that one could go ahead without the other. It is just one of several projects, however, that Newey is said to be evaluating in his capacity as head of Red Bull Technologies. It would not be the first time we would see a high-end automaker team up with an F1 team to create a supercar, after all. McLaren built the SLR for Mercedes before going it alone, and Jaguar more recently collaborated closely with Williams Advanced Engineering on the C-X75 concept, an experimental supercar project that was unfortunately aborted prior to reaching production. We'll be watching and hoping to see how the Aston Martin/Red Bull partnership pans out.