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

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Aston Martin's Racing.Green. strategy lays out sustainability goals

Last year, Aston Martin co-owner Lawrence Stroll said the automaker had two electric vehicles in the pipeline, company CEO Tobias Moers saying the first electric model would show in 2024 or 2025. The English luxury sports car concern has outlined its plans in a new strategy called Racing.Green. — which we will write without the two periods from now on. The major goals of Racing Green are getting a hybrid vehicle to market in 2024, getting the first electric vehicle to market in 2025, phasing the last pure ICE cars out of the lineup in 2026, and offering a fully electrified portfolio by 2030.  Supporting the product goals, Aston Martin says its UK manufacturing facilities have utilized 100% renewable energy since 2019; Racing Green aims for net zero manufacturing emissions by 2030. The St. Athan facility in Wales will be fitted with 14,000 solar panels, enough to provide 20% of the plant's yearly energy use. When taking Aston Martin's entire supply chain into account, the initiative wants a 30% reduction in supply chain emissions relative to a 2020 baseline by 2030, and net zero supply chain emissions by 2039. On that subject, engineers are looking at using aluminum alloy created with 100% renewable energy. Even plastics and water are targeted, the company hoping to "eliminate all plastic packaging waste" within three years and reduce water use by 15%.    As to the product, that first PHEV is going to be the Valhalla and its English-tailored, AMG-sourced, 937-horsepower plug-in powertrain. We still don't know what the first electric model will be the following year, but the DBX makes an obvious candidate. And just a year after that, every model the firm sells will provide the option of an electrified powertrain, the pure ICE models phased out of the range. There will be more choice for interiors, too, in the form of leather-free vegan options. Those goals will occur within a company-wide sustainability, diversity, and inclusion overhaul with peer-reviewed chops. Aston Martin joined the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi), which helps businesses reduce greenhouse gas emissions "in line with what the latest climate science deems necessary to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement." The automaker says Racing Green is also "aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals." In-house compliance with the strategy will be monitored by a board-level Sustainability Committee chaired by non-executive director Dr. Anne Stevens.

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.

Aston Martin confirms DP-100 for Gran Turismo 6 and Goodwood debut

Gran Turismo 6 is set to come to life this weekend at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. That's where Mercedes-AMG will run its Vision Gran Turismo and Nissan will show a full-size mockup of its Concept 2020 Vision Gran Turismo. Now Aston Martin has announced it's getting in on the action as well with its Design Prototype 100. Aston has released a video two teaser images to give us a hint at what it's working on, but will reveal the finished product in the Supercar Paddock at Goodwood tomorrow, although we don't know if that will be in the form of a scale model, a full-size show car, a series of design sketches or a virtual rendition existing only in the game. From the look of the two images, though, it appears that we're dealing with an LMP-style racer with Aston's ubiquitous V12 mounted in the middle of a carbon-fiber chassis. What we do know for certain is that, when it's released for download next month, it will be the latest (but certainly not the last) in a long line of concepts designed specifically for driving on the PlayStation 3.