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Aston Martin sues supplier Envisage over copyright infringement

Automakers don't make the entire cars themselves. They typically design and engineer them, outsource many of the components to outside suppliers, and put them together at assembly plants. Farming out work to those suppliers can result in some leaks in the automaker's intellectual property, but while that's typically covered in extensive legal documents, disputes can arise. And in this case, it's arisen between Aston Martin and one of its suppliers. That supplier is the Envisage Group, a British firm based in Coventry that has, among its various clients, performed design work for Aston since 2007 and supplied parts and tooling since 2011. That means it has access to certain proprietary information regarding Aston and its products, and now the automaker is claiming the supplier has taken unlawful advantage of that access and its copyrights to further its other businesses. Among its other services, Envisage operates a coachbuilding operation that handles the production of vehicles like the Eagle's customized Jaguar E-Types and the Speedback GT for David Brown Automotive. The latter, pictured here, bears more than a passing resemblance to classic Astons, and the company name itself suggests a certain affiliation as well. However both Aston Martin and David Brown Automotive insist that the lawsuit is unrelated. In correspondence with Autoblog, the latter sent the following statement: Following speculation in recent press reports that David Brown Automotive and Speedback GT are the subject of, or involved in, legal proceedings by Aston Martin Lagonda Limited against Envisage Group Limited, David Brown Automotive can confirm that it, and its products, are in no way implicated and the production of our vehicles continues unaffected by the litigation. According to the report from the Telegraph, the lawsuit filed with the UK's High Court makes specific mention of badges, wheels and headlights belonging to Aston Martin that Envisage has allegedly used in promoting its services. Featured Gallery David Brown Automotive Speedback View 18 Photos News Source: The TelegraphImage Credit: David Brown Automotive Design/Style Government/Legal Aston Martin lawsuit court david brown automotive david brown automotive speedback

2018 Aston Martin DB11 V8 First Drive | Longing for 4 more cylinders

Undeterred by implications of penance or irony, the Germans have emerged as stewards of the high-end British automotive industry. At the end of the 20th century, venerable brands such as Rolls-Royce and Bentley were producing stately, outmoded and haphazardly assembled vehicles in quantities more befitting a Paraguayan shipyard than a car company. Since their acquisition by BMW and Volkswagen, respectively, those storied marques have seen investment and product diversification that have transformed their offerings, their sales figures and their bottom lines. You may long for the anachronistic glory of a Silver Spur, but the new Phantom VIII makes it look like the condemned manor home of your black-sheep relations who subsist on cat food and family castoffs. Aston Martin is the latest manufacturer to reap the benefits of Teutonic largesse. Though Aston remains independent, with its major investor being an Italian private equity firm, Daimler, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz, also owns about a 5 percent stake. While we witnessed the first tasty fruit of this union when the DB11 launched last year, it was mainly deep in the underpinnings, the Benzes having granted Aston the right to implement their electronic architecture. This resulted in surprisingly (for Aston) functional and legible dash, ventilation, safety and infotainment controls. Now, with the release of the DB11 V8, we are meeting the true Aston/Benz offspring. And we like this kid, though he may not win the title of favorite nephew. The heart of this baby is Mercedes-AMG's 4.0-liter, twin-turbocharged V8, which, in this application, produces 503 hp and 513 lb-ft of torque. This is fiesty enough to rocket this DB to 62 mph in 4.0 seconds, barely discernible from the 3.9 seconds in which it's dispatched by the 600-hp V12. Continuing with the markdowns, the V8 deducts a $17,500 premium from the V12's list for a sub-$200,000 starting price. It also trims about 250 pounds from the DB's overall mass, which brings its fighting weight into the sub-two-ton category. Also changed are a few cosmetic features.

Aston Martin requests exemption from stringent US safety regulations

If you were intrigued by the chance to buy a new Aston Martin Vantage GT for $99,900, it might be best not to wait too long. There is a slim chance that the Vantage and DB9 may not have much life left in the US because they don't meet new crash standards. Aston Martin has filed documents with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration asking that the new pole and moving barrier crash safety requirements – internally referred to as FMVSS 214 – be waived for the two models. The company is claiming "substantial economic hardship" and says that it can't afford to bring the vehicles into compliance. We aren't talking about a huge number of vehicles here. The Rapide and Vanquish comply with the new rules, and Aston Martin predicts that it would import 670 Vantage and DB9 models into the States between September 1, 2014 and August 31, 2017. The automaker estimates it would cost around $30 million to make them compliant. The company has indeed been in rough shape in the not-too-distant past. According to the documents, sales volume decreased by about 48 percent from a high of 7,281 units in 2007 to 3,786 vehicles in 2012. The automaker had planned to have new models ready in time so that it wouldn't need an exemption, but the global economic crisis delayed it. Interestingly, the paperwork reveals that Aston currently plans to launch a replacement for the DB9 between September 2016 and August 2017. Aston Martin doesn't have very long for NHTSA to deliberate. The new rules go into effect for them on September 1, 2014 for hardtops, and September 1, 2015 for convertibles. While it would still be able to sell its other models here, it would certainly be a shock if it had to pull the the Vantage and DB9. Both documents are available in PDF format to download and read.