2023 Aston Martin Dbx on 2040-cars

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Watch $80M worth of Aston Martins tear around new factory

Earlier this month, Aston Martin took possession of the former Royal Air Force base in St. Athan in South Wales. The company will convert the space to new factory that will start producing new cars, including the future DBX crossover, in 2019. That date is quite a ways away, and in the meantime, Aston has a huge empty facility sitting around. So what better to do than take a bunch of Astons there and play with them? In the video above, two of Aston Martin's racing drivers and the company's chief engineer rollick around the massive hangars and open runways. And of course, only Aston's best are on hand for the trio to drive. You'll see vintage and modern racecars, and hypercar royalty such as the Vulcan and One-77, and Bond classics including the DB5 and DB10. The total value of the cars shown is over $80 million at current exchange rates. Although Aston's best is on display in this video, the company does also present arguably its worst product. The Toyota iQ-based Aston Martin Cygnet has a cameo. Clearly Aston has a sense of humor about the microcar to show it in this video. The scene involves the One-77 and Vulcan literally driving rings around it. Towards the end, we also get the briefest of teasers for the DBX crossover. The engineer and racecar drivers peak under the covers of three cars. The first two are the Valkyrie and DBX concepts. They just start to lift the cover on the third vehicle, only revealing some headlight details, when Aston's CEO arrives to inspect the facility. We don't see anything more of this car for the rest of the video. But seeing as the film ends with a teaser drawing of the DBX, and since it will be produced at St. Athan, it's safe to guess that third covered vehicle is the production, or near-production, DBX. Check it all out above. Related Video:

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 tipped for F1 return with Red Bull, Mercedes

Aston Martin could be plotting a return to Formula One for the first time in over half a century. And not as a backmarker, either. That is, at least, if the latest rumors materialize. While most automakers that participate in F1 do so as either a team owner (like Ferrari and Mercedes) or as an engine supplier (think Renault or Honda), the rumored Aston Martin deal would take a different approach. According to Autosport, the proposal would have the Red Bull Racing team run Aston Martin branding – but not its engines. Those would be provided by Mercedes, just like the engines in the British marque's upcoming slate of road cars. In that regard, the deal would not be unlike the one which Red Bull currently has with the Renault-Nissan Alliance, which sees the team running Renault engines and Infiniti branding. Andy Palmer was a pivotal figure in brokering that unusual arrangement when he was working for Carlos Ghosn, and is now tipped to be brokering a similar deal in his new capacity as Aston Martin's CEO. Though Aston has found glory in sports car racing (including Le Mans and its various associated series), it was never much of a contender in grand prix racing. It competed in a handful of races in 1959 and 1960, but never achieved results worth bragging about. Aston was rumored to be plotting a return when David Richards sat as chairman of the company, having run Aston's racing program as well as Honda's F1 team previously. Those rumors, however, never materialized. Whether this time 'round gains any traction remains to be seen - Aston Martin declined to either confirm or deny the reports when reached for comment by Autoblog. Red Bull has been growing increasingly dissatisfied (and increasingly vocal about its dissatisfaction) with Renault engines over the past couple of seasons. Though the two parties won four back-to-back world titles together, things took a noticeable step backward after the new turbo engine regulations took hold for the 2014 season. Nissan/Infiniti and Red Bull are contracted to continue collaborating until the end of next season. After that is when the new Aston deal could take hold, and Mercedes is reportedly keen on the idea so that it could add another customer to its F1 engine supply business and offset the costs of development. That could effectively prove the end of Renault in F1 (at least for the time being). Aside from Red Bull, the French automaker currently supplies only that outfit's sister team Toro Rosso.