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Aston Martin makes the DB11 and its configurator more powerful

Aston Martin sold 4,150 cars last year, but the luxury automaker said its configurator served up more than two million specification sessions. Going with the overwhelming numbers, for 2022 Aston Martin has focused on "the customer journey" for imminent and aspirational buyers by rolling out a new and highly featured configurator. At last, the firm greets potential customers and the merely curious with the kind of luxury one expects of the brand. This is especially important for a company working through its Project Horizon turnaround, and also because, as the official Safety Car and Medical Car sponsor of Formula 1, traffic to Aston Martin's web site spikes every time its Vantage and DBX are called out on track during races.   The configurator's been built using Epic Game's Unreal engine, a digital creation tool building portals for everything from real estate to fashion, supplemented by Nvidia GTX graphics. In the present Phase One, visitors can place their chosen model in studio or outdoor environments, with daytime or nighttime lighting, and get high-res, zoomed-in beauty shots of their their vehicle details. Yet while Aston Martin poured new features into the configurator, it has reorganized and simplified the site's use. For instance, individual elements such as exterior paint are broken into six color groupings like Blacks & Greys and Bronzes & Oranges, providing users a glimpse at the range of hues on offer without overwhelming them into analysis paralysis. The surfeit of choice carries on inside, naturally — there are eleven carpet colors on offer and 12 shades of headliner. The simplifying rationalization carries on in the cabin, too, with three themes available to establish a quick baseline for personalization. The starter theme is called Create, showcasing ornate stitching on the seat bolsters, perforated, patterned seatbacks, door cards, and arm rest. Next up is Accelerate, which "will appeal to customers who wish for a more focused interior." This one puts Alcantara all over, notably on the entire seat faces and bolsters, with leather trimming the seat sides and headrests. Create and Accelerate can be had in ten colors in monotone and duotone arrangements. Inspire, the topmost theme and "the epitome of luxury," can be had in 38 colors and in monotone, duotone, and light duotone.

Aston Martin Vantage with a manual transmission due next year

In 2016, Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer told Car and Driver that that Aston Martin would continue to offer manual transmissions and will always have at least one hand-shaker in the lineup. For the keepers of the dying manual light, it's been a long wait since the V12 Vantage S went out of production last year, but dawn will break over Gaydon in summer 2019. Aston Martin chief engineer Matt Becker told Road & Track at the Goodwood Festival of Speed that there'd be a stick shift in the V8 Vantage by "this time next year." That might seem like a long wait when there are already prototypes on the road, but the small company has a large engineering job. The Mercedes-AMG 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 sitting in the Vantage's engine bay has never been paired with a manual gearbox, so Aston Martin has to create the software and the driveline hardware from scratch to make it work. On top of that, the company wants to make sure the package delivers the thrills the row-your-own crowd seeks. Becker said the car won't be a pushover, tuned so that "It reminds you that you have to know how to drive." Depending on uptake, one could hope that the DB11 using the same Mercedes-AMG engine would also undergo a manual transformation. Road & Track didn't get the details on what kind of transmission we could expect. We figure the options are a traditional six-speed, a Corvette-style seven-speed, a Porsche-style seven-speed, or the dogleg seven-speed used last in this year's V12 Vantage V600, of which there were only 14 units. Speculation on product plans puts the manual transmission first in the V8 Vantage pipeline, followed by a Vantage roadster and a V12 Vantage. Other models will certainly fill out the portfolio, Becker saying this first Vantage "is the starting point." Having applied the hardcore AMR moniker to the Valkyrie AMR Pro, DB11 AMR, and Rapide AMR, the Vantage seems a lock for the same extreme makeover. Related Video:

Aston Martin DB11 stuns in leaked official images

The Geneva Motor Show officially kicks off when the world's press descends on the Palexpo this Tuesday and Wednesday, but we'd entertain an argument for a Monday kickoff. That's when Volkswagen will host its enormous Group Night event (so check back tomorrow afternoon for all the latest). But lazy Sunday evenings? No, that's for watching The Walking Dead. And, you know, looking at leaked images of cars meant to debut on Tuesday or Wednesday. So if, like us, you're taking a break from walkers, check out the new Aston Martin DB11. In news that isn't really news, it's gorgeous. The images, published by Carscoops, show a car heavily inspired by the DB10 concept car from the latest James Bond movie, Spectre, but it's designed for the real world. Things like crash zones, headlight regulations, cargo space, and even an opening hood all take their toll on the style of 007's latest ride, but the resulting coupe is still a beauty. We can see elements of the One-77 hypercar, especially in the rear window, quarter window, and haunches. But the roof and its silver arches, are all DBX Concept. Up front, there's much more in common with the DB10. The grille and headlights are unsurprisingly larger, with the former likely dictated by the need to cool the 5.2-liter, twin-turbocharged V12 and the later due to your basic headlight size requirements. And the wheels? Those are more or less plucked right from the Bond car. Look for the entire array of official images and details, including live shots from Geneva, later this week. Until then, have a look at the leaked shots from Carscoops. Related Video: