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Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer to leave in favor of AMG chief Tobias Moers

Aston Martin Chief Executive Andy Palmer is leaving the business as part of a management shake-up and will be replaced by Tobias Moers, CEO of Mercedes-AMG, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Sunday. The luxury carmaker said in an emailed statement that it is reviewing its management team but declined to comment on Palmer's fate. Palmer and Germany's Daimler, which owns a 5% stake in Aston Martin and supplies the carmaker with Mercedes-AMG engines, also declined to comment. The Financial Times newspaper had reported earlier that the Aston Martin chief was going to leave as part of a shake-up of its leadership, with an official announcement expected on Tuesday. Palmer had not been informed of the upcoming announcement, the newspaper reported. Aston Martin, famed for being fictional secret agent James Bond's car of choice, has seen its share price plummet since floating in October 2018. The 107-year old British luxury carmaker earlier this month posted a deep first-quarter loss after sales dropped by almost a third due to the impact of the novel coronavirus outbreak. The company has been banking on its sport utility vehicle to drive sales in a new segment, and said production was on track. In January, dire conditions forced the company to bring in Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll who bought a roughly 20% stake for nearly 200 million pounds ($263 million), as the ailing carmaker sought to raise funds. The coronavirus pandemic and shutdowns caused by it have hit demand and forced factories around the world to suspend production, negatively impacting many industries, including car manufacturers. "We were obviously fairly significantly hit by COVID-19, starting with China in January but more clearly in what we saw as it came across towards Europe and the United States," Palmer told Reuters earlier in May. Related Video:

2017 Mercedes-AMG C63 Coupe looks quick, mean

The latest Mercedes-Benz C-Class Coupe isn't even on the road yet. Still, the folks at AMG are already working at tweaking the two-door into a future high-performance variant as the natural challenger for the BMW M4. While this model is heavily camouflaged all the way around, an aggressive face akin to the C63 sedan is already pretty easy to spot. Both cars feature air dams with big openings to feed cool air to the 4.0-liter, twin-turbo V8 under the hood. Compared to the previously spied, standard version of the two-door C-Class, the AMG looks to feature wider front fenders, too. Despite the concealment, other visible high-performance touches include lower side sills and larger brakes peeking out behind the wheels. Of course, the four exhaust pipes sticking out the back are a big giveaway of the coupe's intended high-speed purpose, too. Like the C63 sedan, expect a choice of tunes of the V8 to be available with either 469 horsepower or the more powerful S with 503 hp. The wait to see the two-door without all of this camo shouldn't be too long, either. An earlier report suggests that both the standard coupe and AMG versions could debut at the upcoming Frankfurt Motor Show in September. Related Video:

Mercedes-AMG Hulks out again with new G63 test

The last time we saw Mercedes-Benz testing its camouflaged, lime-green G63 AMG, it was on the sunny roads of Germany. Perhaps recognizing that this was a tragic waste of its talents, Mercedes has now moved testing of its new brute to the windy, snowy tarmac of Sweden. Besides being a far more suitable environment for its monstrous G-Wagen, Mercedes' arrival in Scandinavia gives us yet another look at its 6x6-inspired updates. Judging by the license plates, this is the exact same vehicle we spotted way back in November, which gave us our original look at the impending arrival of the G's hoisted-up ride height, more aggressively flared fenders and meatier off-road-ready tires. As with our previous report, our spies are still arguing that the next G63 will be fitted with Mercedes' 5.5-liter, twin-turbocharged V8. That means as much as 544 horsepower and 560 pound-feet of torque will be on tap, and it'll all be dispatched via a seven-speed automatic transmission. The next G-Wagen is still on pace for a debut this year, although we still aren't sure where. Forced to put money on it, we'd bet on a European show, likely March's Genevan extravaganza or September's Frankfurt show.