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UK offers Aston Martin military base to produce DBX in Wales

The British government is doing its best to encourage Aston Martin to build the DBX in the United Kingdom. To that end, Prime Minister David Cameron made a public offer to the automaker Thursday to make use of a military facility in Wales to produce the crossover. The location is St Athan, a Royal Air Force base and Ministry of Defence facility with space left vacant since a planned military academy earmarked for the site was canceled less than five years ago. One of its empty hangars is what Cameron offered to Aston Martin, according to the BBC. The facility is located near the airport in the Welsh capital of Cardiff, a little over two hours from the company's headquarters and principal manufacturing site in Gaydon. If Aston takes the bait, the site would be used to manufacture the DBX that would become the company's first crossover. Rivals Jaguar, Bentley, Maserati, and Lamborghini are all planning to launch their first crossovers, as well. Aston showcased a concept version of the DBX at the Geneva Motor Show this March, but the production version is expected to go a bit more mainstream, ditching the electric powertrain and two-door layout in favor of more conventional propulsion and four-door setup. The company is also said to be considering opening a new facility in the United States, specifically in Alabama near the Mercedes plant there, to handle production of the DBX. Other locations within the UK are also said to be under consideration, but Aston has yet to make a decision – or at least an announcement – on where the crossover might be assembled. When Aston previously branched out with the launch of the Rapide, it contracted Magna Steyr to handle assembly on its behalf in Austria, before moving production back home. The contract manufacturing facility is the same to which the Jaguar Land Rover is expected to entrust assembly of the F-Pace crossover. It's also where the G-Class is built for Mercedes, which in turn similarly hired AM General recently to assume production of the R-Class crossover. Related Video:

Aston Martin posts deep quarterly loss as coronavirus pandemic dents sales

LONDON — Aston Martin posted a deep first-quarter loss after sales dropped by nearly a third due to the impact of the coronavirus crisis, though the luxury car maker said production of a crucial sport utility vehicle was on track. Aston Martin, popular for being James Bond's carmaker of choice, suffered a torrid time since it floated in October 2018, seeing its share price tumble from 19 pounds to around 40 pence. Dire conditions forced the company to bring in Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll to invest in the firm, while Aston said it will continue to review future funding and refinancing options to boost liquidity. The pandemic hit demand and forced factories around the world to suspend production. However, Aston resumed operations as its Welsh plant last week but not at its other site located in southern England as yet. "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," Chief Executive Andy Palmer told Reuters. The company posted a pre-tax loss of 119 million pounds ($145 million), compared with a loss of 17 million pounds ($21 million) last year, and said it could no longer provide an annual outlook. Its full-year loss in 2019 came in at 104 million pounds. Shares were down 5% at 36 pence, as of 07:35 GMT on Wednesday. The carmaker said production of its DBX SUV, which is key to boost volumes and appeal to new buyers including more women, was on track and had a strong order book. The luxury brand, which has seen core retail sales slump by an annual 31%, has furloughed staff, introduced additional safety measures and cut the pay of its senior management as part of measures to handle the crisis caused by the pandemic. Stroll, who hopes to pursue a turnaround partly by sharing Formula One technology with the firm's range of road cars, leads a consortium that took a 25% stake in the company earlier this year as part of a capital raise worth 536 million pounds. "Given the ongoing uncertainties, as is prudent, the company continues to review all future funding and refinancing options to increase liquidity," the company said on Wednesday.   (Reporting by Costas Pitas; Editing by James Davey and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

Carfection gets an inside look at Aston's 800-hp Vulcan

Most of us will never get close to a beast like the Aston Martin Vulcan. After all, the British automaker will only build 24 of them, and each is priced at over $2 million. Fortunately our friends at Carfection (previously known as Xcar) have done it for us with this latest video. The Vulcan, for those unfamiliar, is Aston Martin's take on the same formula that brought us the likes of the McLaren P1 GTR and Ferrari FXX K (not to mention the 599XX and FXX that came before). Only by "us," we mean billionaire playboys with the funds and the will to play racing driver in track toys designed purely for their amusement. And where the McLaren and Ferrari are both mid-engined hybrids derived from road-going supercars – the former with a pair of turbochargers – the Vulcan is purpose-built for the task and packs an oversized, naturally aspirated 7.0-liter V12 mounted up front said to be good for 800 horsepower. It's more extreme than anything else Aston Martin has ever made for the street or racing. Check it out for yourself in the two-minute clip above to see how it's put together by the company's most skilled craftsmen. And don't forget to turn up the speakers. Related Video: News Source: Carfection via YouTube Aston Martin Coupe Supercars Videos viral video aston martin vulcan carfection