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Weekly Recap: New bosses try to jump-start Cadillac and Lincoln

Both of America's domestic luxury brands seem to be stuck in neutral.
It's ironic that Cadillac and Lincoln got new bosses within days of each other this month. It's also a commentary on the fact both of America's domestic luxury brands seem to be stuck in neutral.

This Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato Shooting Brake is a masterpiece in pink

Customizing the exterior colors and styling of a car can be boiled down to a general choice: Go with a low-key classic look or take an outlandish approach that makes the car more exclusive. At least one Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato owner went down the latter route and chose a bright pink paint job for their shooting brake. Brought to our attention by Jalopnik, the car popped up on President and Group CEO Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd Andy Palmer's Instagram. " My Friday factory walk (Gemba) and I came across this beautiful Zagato Shooting Brake about to be shipped," he said on the post. "It's certainly going to stand out for a lucky customer." Stand out, it will. The pink paint, with black wheels and gold accents, adds a new element of uniqueness to the car. As an Aston Martin, it was already a premium sports car. The Zagato treatment makes it even more rare, as does the gorgeous shooting brake bodywork. For some people, that's enough. For others, that the car alone doesn't fully display their character and personality. This is the second time the Vanquish Zagatos have come up in the news in the past week. A different owner chose the classic Villa d'Este paint scheme, but went all out and bought one of each of the Zagato styles. Regardless of which style you prefer, this pink Aston proves one thing: this Zagato looks good in any color. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Andy Palmer (@andyataston) on Dec 8, 2018 at 3:50am PST Related Video:

Aston Martin teases the Vantage AMR with a manual gearbox

We are nigh on the debut of Aston Martin's Vantage AMR with a manual gearbox. The English carmaker teased the three-pedal sports car today, Autocar reporting we should see the genuine article sometime in the next week. We still have no idea what kind of transmission this will be — six- or seven-speed, and if a seven-speed, will it employ the motorsports-inspired dogleg setup? What we know is that this is first appearance of the hand-shaker transmission in the lineup since 2017, when Aston Martin made just 14 examples of the V12 Vantage V600. We also know a lot of work went into it. When going public last year with the fact that the manual gearbox would return, Aston Martin explained the height of the challenge involved. 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 driveline hardware from scratch to make it work. The resulting gearbox will come tuned to make drivers earn their thrills. Chief engineer Matt Becker said, "It reminds you that you have to know how to drive." As a product of the Aston Martin Racing subdivision, and with so much work involved already, the car will surely get other tweaks. The most recent AMR-designated Aston Martins, the DB 11 AMR and Rapide AMR, featured more power, hardcore chassis setups, and a kit of menacing, carbon fiber aero addenda. They also came with substantial price increases, and the Vantage AMR shouldn't disappoint there, either.