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Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato Shooting Brake finishes a quartet Q would envy

From A to Z in four steps - that being Aston Martin and Zagato, connected by carbon fiber links known as the Vanquish Zagato Coupe, Volante, Speedster, and the now-official Shooting Brake. When the automaker revealed the Zagato Speedster at Pebble Beach in August, the Shooting Brake remained a sketch. Today we get honest, photographic proof of what 99 future owners will soon park in their climate-controlled display spaces. Were it not for the objet d'art reverence paid to a Zagato and the bitsy production run, we'd expect to see the shooting brake frolicking through expensive enclaves just as often as a Ferrari GT4 Lusso. Aston Martin's 580-horsepower V12 provides useful intent up front, a "luxuriously trimmed rear cabin area with tailored luggage" carries its weight in back. In between, driver and passenger revel in a herringbone carbon fiber fascia, anodized bronze dials, quilted leather, and glass-inlay for the double-bubble roof inviting lots of light. The Shooting Brake goes into production next year, alongside the Speedster. As with the first three bijoux, every Shooting Brake has already found a home. When Aston Martin hands the last set of keys to the final buyer, these 325 special editions will mark the close of another chapter in an Anglo-Italian cooperation begun with the 1960 DB4 Zagato. Related Video:

Here's Aston Martin's DP-100 racer for Gran Turismo in all its virtual glory [w/video]

After a little bit of teasing, Aston Martin is finally unveiling its Design Prototype 100 Vision Gran Turismo Concept at the Goodwood Festival of Speed that makes it into Gran Turismo 6 in July. With the DP-100, the company's designers have gotten a chance to shrug off the shackles of realism and create the first-ever Aston Martin "road car" with the engine mounted behind the driver. Designed and engineered over the course of six months by the Aston Martin Design team, the crew started from a clean sheet of paper and were allowed to design whatever they liked with no concerns about production feasibility. At the front, there's the brand's classic grille shape, but otherwise the concept is completely original. The shape of the DP-100 is beautifully simple, looking like a collection of intersecting arches in profile. Of course, in Gran Turismo 6, gamers are going to want to race the car more than look at it. The DP-100 employs Aston Martin's famous V12 engine coupled with two turbochargers to produce 800 horsepower. Active aerodynamic aids keep it planted during cornering, as well. Aston Martin previously hinted that it might show off a physical version of the concept at this year's Goodwood Festival. Although, we haven't seen it yet, the concept would fit perfectly next to Nissan's own Vision Gran Turismo design at the celebration of all things automotive. Scroll down to watch a video of the DP-100's designers talking about the car and read the official release. ASTON MARTIN UNVEILS VIRTUAL DP-100 RACER FOR GRAN TURISMO®6 Design Prototype 100 joins stable of Vision Gran Turismo racers in popular racing game for PlayStation®3 Designed and engineered over six months by Aston Martin Design team Downloadable for in-game play in July 2014 Aston Martin is unveiling an exceptional new addition to the hugely popular PlayStation®3 exclusive racing game Gran Turismo®6 (GT6™) in the shape of the stunning Design Prototype 100 – DP-100 Vision Gran Turismo. Developed in-house by the Design team at Aston Martin, led by Design Director Marek Reichman, DP-100 Vision Gran Turismo is a new, virtual-only GT racer that will be available for Gran Turismo®6 (GT6™) owners to download in July 2014, following the global launch at Goodwood Festival of Speed. Starting with nothing but the traditional 'blank sheet of paper' the design team and design engineers worked for six months to create the new addition to the Vision Gran Turismo stable of race cars.

Weekly Recap: Geneva's splendor reflects growing demand for ultra-luxury cars

Geneva is one of the most glittering auto shows in the world, but the list of high-powered and bespoke luxury cars was decadent this year even by the rich standards of the Swiss exhibition. It's great for enthusiasts to revel in the flame-throwing Aston Martin Vulcan, the racing-inspired elegance of the Bentley EXP 10 Speed 6 concept and the insane performance of the Lamborghini Aventador LP 750-4 Superveloce, but there's a reason for all of this opulence: the luxury market is big business. And it's growing. IHS Automotive forecasts that so-called ultra-premium sales will nearly triple this decade from 123,000 to 353,000 units around the world. The estimate includes brands like Aston Martin, Bentley, Ferrari and Rolls-Royce, but doesn't count BMW, Mercedes and Audi, which offer less expensive models in addition to their high-end flagships. Though IHS includes Porsche and its relatively large volume in the study, the ultra-premium segment is still set grow at about the same rate, even without the German automaker's figures. So what is propelling all of this growth in the most expensive segment of the auto industry? Put simply, there's more rich people. IHS Automotive principal analyst Tim Urquhart pointed to economic expansion in China, market recovery in the United States and a surge in the lucrative technology sector as contributing factors. This dovetails with a research report by UK-based Oxfam, an international relief organization, which found the world's richest one-percent owned 48 percent of global wealth in 2014, and it's expected to increase to more than 50 percent by 2016. View 17 Photos Carmakers are moving quickly to capitalize with new products, expanding their portfolios with low-volume speedsters like the 800-hp V12 Vulcan at Geneva, and plans to enter new segments, like Rolls-Royce's strategy to make an SUV. "Ultra-premium carmakers are looking to explore ways of growing their product offerings, and thus their bottom lines, in this most potentially profitable of segments," Urquhart wrote in a report on the Geneva show. In a nutshell, there are more choices for people with more money. It's a good time to have expensive taste. Other News & Notes 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata production launches It won't be long now. The 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata arrives later this year, and it's officially in production. Mazda announced this week that the roadster began rolling off the assembly line at its Ujina factory in Hiroshima, Japan.