2014 Aston Martin Vanquish on 2040-cars

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Catch these four Aston Martins in Bond 25, 'No Time to Die'

Unless Aston Martin is holding a trick up its sleeve, an Aston Martin Rapide E will not be appearing in the new James Bond movie "No Time to Die," as we'd previously thought. The film will, however, feature the Valhalla, the DBS Superlegerra, the V8 Vantage and the DB5, as confirmed by a recent tweet.  As the anniversary of when the first Bond film "Dr. No" was originally released in 1962, Oct. 5 has been deemed Global James Bond Day. To celebrate the occasion, two things were unveiled: the first movie poster for "No Time To Die" and Aston Martin's movie lineup. Playing to the 25th anniversary, Aston will include classic models, current cars, and future rides. Part of this news is not really news. We knew both the V8 Vantage and the DB5 would be in attendance, but the inclusion of both the DBS Superleggera and the Valhalla is a nice surprise. There's no word whether the DBS will be one of the "On Her Majesty’s Secret Service" special-edition examples, but we doubt it. The pairing of the Superleggera and the Valhalla sparks excellent memories of the epic Aston Martin DB10 vs. Jaguar C-X75 chase scene from "Spectre." We can only hope we're so lucky to see these cars in yet another romp. Few numbers about the Valhalla's powertrain have leaked, other than it will be mid-engined with a twin-turbocharged V6 with F1 tech, but it's doubtlessly capable of battling the DBS, which has a 715-horsepower twin-turbocharged 5.2-liter V-12.  We'll find out how involved each vehicle is on April 8, 2020, the day "No Time To Die" releases. Past, present and future. To mark the 25th Bond film, #NoTimeToDie, four of our cars will be featured in the film. From the classic DB5 and V8 Vantage, to the new DBS Superleggera and Aston Martin Valhalla, there is something for every Bond fan.#JamesBondDay@007 pic.twitter.com/cmKvswriHo — Aston Martin (@astonmartin) October 5, 2019 Celebrate #JamesBondDay with the first poster for #NoTimeToDie #Bond25 pic.twitter.com/EoU4PXhxwX — James Bond (@007) October 5, 2019

Tesla, European automaker may share Supercharger network [w/video]

Tesla Model S owners have had the now-500-plus Supercharger locations all to themselves since the free, high-speed charging network first opened up three years ago. The day may be coming when they'll have to start sharing, however. According to CEO Elon Musk, the company is "in talks with some manufacturers" about opening up its infrastructure to other autos. The mission statement of Tesla Motors is to "accelerate the advent of sustainable transport," and it can be argued that the success of its Model S is doing this, at least to some extent, by inspiring other automakers to build long-range electric vehicles themselves. Witness the Porsche Mission E concept and Audi E-Tron Quattro Concept as two recently unveiled examples. Sharing the Supercharger system is another way to speed things up. When EV owners of other marques want to take a trip, they may find themselves facing a hodge-podge of charging networks, each with slightly different standards, availability, and fees. Supercharging for free at well-mapped and easily accessible locations can only make things easier, and Musk has long said he would like other companies to make use of the network. With some manufacturers declaring allegiance to the CHAdeMO and others, the SAE Combo system, it seemed like Tesla might not get any takers, but finally it may be getting traction. Musk mentioned the development on at least two different occasions recently at speaking engagements in Berlin: once in a morning discussion, and later during a larger meeting with the German Minister of Economy & Energy, Sigmar Gabriel. While in the first instance, Musk used the plural "manufacturers," indicating there may be discussions with more than one firm, the second mention might be more relevant to the near term. In that case, while answering a question about sharing the Superchargers, he stated that "the CEO of one European car company, not a German car company, has approached us recently about doing exactly that, and we're super supportive of anyone who wants to do that." The question now becomes, "who will be the first to use the Tesla high-speed network?" With the specific mention of a European company, and the exclusion of German ones, our best guess is Aston Martin. Its CEO Andy Palmer is quite bullish on electric vehicles and the iconic British brand already has a test mule for an 800-hp electric Rapide on the road, not to mention its fabulous DBX under development.

Aston Martin Vantage GTE race car revealed

Though Aston Martin had more than enough news in revealing the new V8 Vantage, it decided it needed to show one more thing: the Vantage GTE race car. Obviously the body work is based on the road car, but it's more aggressive. It has an even bigger version of the V8 Vantage's massive grille. The hood gets extra vents. The exhaust now exits out the front fenders. And, of course, it gets a huge wing and equally monster diffuser. The interior is quite a bit different, though, with the comfy seats and leather trim gone in favor of a roll cage and bare carbon fiber components. Under the skin, there are some similarities to the regular V8 Vantage. The main connection is the Vantage GTE's engine, which is a version of the same 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged AMG V8 found in the road car. It makes more power than the street version with at least 530 horsepower. Torque is roughly the same, though. Instead of an eight-speed automatic, the Vantage GTE uses a six-speed sequential manual transmission. Both cars use double-wishbone suspension front and rear, but the GTE gets adjustable anti-roll bars and Ohlins adjustable shocks. The brakes are also upgraded to six-piston front calipers and four-piston rear calipers from Alcon. It will start racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2018. Related Video: