2023 Aston Martin Db11 V8 on 2040-cars

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Aston may build fewer than 100 Lagonda super saloons

Aston Martin has owned the Lagonda nameplate since the late '40s, but in the roughly 70 years since that acquisition, the use of the name has been kept largely exclusive for four-door models. The two most famous modern Lagondas are the angular, futuristic sedan built in the '70s and '80s and the infamously ugly SUV concept from the 2009 Geneva Motor Show. UK magazine Car claims that the classic name could make its return on a svelte four-door as soon as this summer, which makes sense considering our spy shooters recently caught what looked like a modernized incarnation of the 70s super saloon last month. Interestingly, while Aston Martins are rare birds as-is, Car says that the neo-Lagonda could be even more scarce – its sources suggest that the model could be limited to under 100 units. That's because Aston Martin's Q customization service is reportedly taking up construction duties for the project, and with its small team, that means production is going to be slow, limited and very expensive. Even covered in camo as spied above, there's something special about the new car. The squinting headlights and thin A-pillar echo the '80s model in a modern way and make this four-door look a lot sportier than the Bentley, Maserati and Rolls-Royce models that it will likely compete against. It's rumored to be using composite body panels to keep weight down. The powertrain is said to be an evolution of the Rapide, Aston's sole existing four-door model. The Lagonda would use Aston Martin's 5.9-liter V12 with power tuned to around 600 horsepower, backed by an eight-speed automatic replacing the Rapide's elderly six-speed unit. That would put power just short of an Mercedes-Benz S65 AMG, but the composite panels could lend it a weight advantage. The latest rumor only indicates the Lagonda's unveiling sometime later this summer, with no exact date or location. Still given the relative completeness of the test car, it doesn't look like it could be too far away. We can't wait to see it when the camo comes off.

World's Fastest Gamer prize: Racing Aston Martins around the world IRL

LONDON — Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Juan Pablo Montoya is to lead the judging panel for season two of World's Fastest Gamer, a competition aiming to take a virtual racer to the real track for a season with an Aston Martin sports car team. Season one winner Rudy Van Buren, previously a sales manager in the Netherlands, won a year as simulator driver with the McLaren Formula One team. Competition founder Darren Cox said the message coming through from the esports world was that gamers wanted more. "These gamers at the end of the day want to go racing," he said on Wednesday. "So we thought, let's not go against what everyone wants, let's push it and have the real racing as the prize." Cox has plenty of experience of that, having created the GT Academy program that took 23 people from gaming to racetrack with Nissan: "The big prize for the gamers in GT Academy was one race ... this time we're saying we're confident we'll find someone who's good enough and who will do a full season in Aston Martins at the biggest tracks in the world." The winner from 10 finalists — eight of them champions from top motor racing esports series and two separate qualifiers — will become a professional racing driver with Swiss-based R Motorsport, who work closely with Aston Martin. Van Buren will also be racing a full season as teammate to the winner. Cox said the prize of a full season was worth more than $1 million. The circuits will include Monza, Le Castellet, Brands Hatch, Nurburgring, as well as 24-Hour endurance races at Spa-Francorchamps and Daytona. Montoya, who won seven Formula One grands prix with Williams and McLaren, is also a keen online racer and still practices on simulators. Cox said he had started talking to the outspoken Colombian about gaming when they met at Daytona a year ago and he was "fully up for it." "I know the skills between real and virtual are completely transferable, so my job on WFG is to make sure these gamers are hungry and perform under the pressure I intend to put them under," Montoya said.

Aston Martin's deal with Mercedes-AMG more than skin-deep

Aston Martin is working on a raft of new models. But it's not going it alone: it has a technical partnership with Mercedes-AMG, the details of which have only been revealed in bits and pieces. If these latest spy shots are anything to go by, however, the arrangement could run deeper than anyone initially let on. Spied undergoing testing at the Nurburgring, this prototype for the upcoming successor to the Aston Martin DB9 is widely expected to be called the DB11 (10 is being used by James Bond's new ride). From the outside it doesn't look different than the previous versions we've seen running around, but this time we can also peer into the cabin, and that's where things start to get interesting. Despite the best arm-waving efforts by the development engineers, our spy photographers managed to snap a couple of shots of the interior. And though it looks far from being ready for production, the components we see appear to have been lifted from the Mercedes S-Class Coupe – particularly the steering wheel, digital instrument cluster, and almost the entire center console. This speaks to a deeper collaboration between the British and German automakers. The 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 from the Mercedes-AMG GT, C63, and G500 4x42 is already being adapted for use in the next generation of Astons. Related Video: