2009 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Base Convertible 2-door 4.7l on 2040-cars

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Aston Martin Vantage V12 Zagato goes back into limited production

To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato in 2011, Aston Martin worked with Zagato Milano to create the Vantage V12 Zagato. Aston Martin made 101 of the special editions, available only as a coupe. This year, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Milanese design house, Swiss motorsport company AF Racing has commissioned 38 examples of the Vantage V12 Zagato, consisting of 19 coupes and 19 roadsters. The official name of the redux is Aston Martin Vantage V12 Zagato Heritage TWINS by R-Reforged. When Aston Martin originally announced production they planned to build 150 units, but for unknown reasons that number fell to 101 units. Since no specs have been mentioned, our guess is that the 6.0-liter V12 with 510 horsepower and 420 pound-feet of torque goes unchanged. As far as we can tell, the only differences between these new versions and the previous builds is that the coupe omits the rear spoiler, there's a wider selection of colors, and you can alternatively choose to take the top off. As for the entities behind this, the press release lays out a web of connections we're not totally clear on. The relevant matters are that AF Racing is a Swiss motorsport company that's a project partner on the Aston Martin Valkyrie, and it has a sub-brand called R-Reforged devoted to production-car projects. AF Racing owns a subsidiary in Germany called Vynamic that oversees four Aston Martin Vantage race cars competing in the German DTM Series. Vynamic will actually build the new V12 Zagatos. The rest of the tangled web doesn't matter. AF Racing says deliveries of the new coupes and speedsters will commence at the end of this year. No price has been mentioned, but the original coupes went for 330,000 pounds at the time, which would be $429,000 right now, and probably a good place to start.

Geely in talks to take a stake in Aston Martin

China’s Geely Automobile Holding held talks with Aston Martin management and investors as it considers investing into the British luxury carmaker, the Financial Times reported on Friday. Geely is conducting due diligence as it looks at taking a stake in the 107-year-old UK firm, which warned earlier this week its 2019 profits would by cut nearly in half due to weak European markets. Another report out today said that Aston had canceled its RapidE electric car because of its financial situation. Geely owns controlling stake in another British car company, Lotus, and also the London EV Company, which makes London cabs. It also owns Volvo and a nearly 10% stake in Daimler. Aston Martin was not immediately available for comment. Geely did not immediately respond to a request for comment.  Related Video:     Earnings/Financials Green Aston Martin Geely

One-off Aston Martin DB9 Spyder Zagato Centennial up for grabs

There's a long and proud history of Aston Martins coachbuilt by Zagato, and while we wouldn't call them commonplace, most of them were put in serial production, however limited. But not this one. This one-of-a-kind DB9 Spyder was handbuilt by Zagato (along with a similarly styled DBS coupe) to celebrate Aston's centenary. Rather than remain in the private collections of either company, though, it was built in England, fitted with its customer bodywork (over the course of a year) in Italy, showcased back in England and then again at Pebble Beach before being delivered to its owner, who has kept it in California ever since. But now he's putting it up for auction. Equipped with a 6.0-liter V12, carbon-ceramic brakes and of course that unique coachwork, the DB9 Spyder Centennial edition has been consigned to RM Sotheby's for its sale in Monterey this coming August, two years after it was first shown there. It's anticipated to fetch between $380,000 and $450,000, which would be about double what Aston charges for a new DB9 Volante, but strikes us as a pretty solid investment considering just how rare this particular Anglo-Italian bird really is. Of course the Aston Zagato isn't the only notable vehicle RM has in store for Pebble this year. It's also highlighting a 1968 Maserati Ghibli Spyder that's billed as the first of its kind ever made, a US-spec Ferrari Daytona prototype, an early Lamborghini Countach and a rare 1973 Nissan Skyline GT-R. In short, RM's Monterey auction is already shaping up to be a notable one, and we're still a few months out with new consignments being added all the time.