1971 Aston Martin Dbs V8 on 2040-cars

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Aston Martin considers offering new Lagonda Taraf outside of Middle East

Aston Martin officially took the wraps off its new Lagonda sedan in Dubai on Monday, revealing the luxury limousine in all its glory and revealing its nameplate as Taraf – derived from the Arabic word for "luxury" (not for some Kurdish starlet). A fitting name, since it will only be offered to select customers in the Middle East, where a large number of its '70s-era predecessors have found homes. But while the model was clearly and emphatically targeted at the Persian Gulf clientele, Aston Martin is reportedly considering offering the Lagonda Taraf in other markets as well. Both Car and Top Gear are citing Aston's new chief executive Andy Palmer on the matter from the unveiling in Dubai: "I can confirm today that we are also evaluating the opportunity to offer this Lagonda in other markets." Whether it would carry the Arabic name along with it, we don't know. Nor do we know, for that matter, if the US would be among those markets which Aston would consider selling the sedan. "We have enjoyed excellent levels of interest in the Lagonda and we are investigating possibilities for other markets besides the Middle East," said Matthew Clarke, the company's spokesman for the Americas, in correspondence with Autoblog. "However, we can't add any more or be any more specific at this very early stage." Understandable, of course, but we hope to hear good news in the near future.

Jaguar F-Type squares off against Porsche 911, Aston V8 Vantage with Chris Harris

Chris Harris is back on the job, taking on really really difficult car questions like: Which enormously sexy and good-to-drive, high-performance convertible is the top of the heap? As one of the hottest cars in the luxury space right now, the Jaguar F-Type S is, of course, in on the action. Competition comes in the form of the Aston Martin V8 Vantage Roadster and the Porsche 911 Carrera S Cabriolet. Sun-loving CEOs who despise test-driving need look no further.
Scroll on below for a fully featured (with a running time of more than 20 minutes) comparison video. Harris does his best to entertain - in a typically nitpicky and made-up-British-words fashion - and the moving pictures are lovely to look at. Kick back, pour a pint and get your weekend started off right.

Say hello to the Aston Martin 'On Her Majesty’s Secret Service' DBS Superleggera

There's the fact that the Aston Martin DBS Superleggera has become the carmaker's most popular canvas for special editions of late. There's the fact that Aston Martin has a longstanding relationship with the production company behind the James Bond film franchise. And there's the fact that Aston Martin is working with the Bond franchise at the moment, with the Rapide E and who knows how many other Warwickshire products to star and cameo in Bond 25. And that's how we arrive at the fact of the Aston Martin "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" DBS Superleggera, which celebrates the sixth film in the franchise. From now on we'll call this coupe the OHMSS DBS Superleggera, which, when pronounced "Oh Ms. DBS," is a wonderful acronym. We didn't make that up, either — the first five letters are etched onto the strakes on the front fenders. In 1969, George Lazenby as James Bond drove an olive 1969 DBS in the film. This being a turbulent time for the franchise, the car had no gadgets and didn't appear in any action scenes. The best it could do for fighting was a 4.0-liter inline six cylinder with either 282 horsepower or 325 hp depending on whether it had the SU or more potent Weber carburetors. Now that we live in an era of all-action-all-the-time, the DBS Superlegerra celebrates the film's semicentennial with a 712-hp, 5.2-liter twin-turbo V12. Olive paint dresses up the carbon fiber bodywork and the cantrails and roof that are usually black. The hue gets contrasted by a six-bar horizontal grille and a delightfully ornate set of diamond-turned wheels. The interior is wrapped in Pure Black leather set off with Alcantara in the same kind of gray blend found in the 1969 DBS. The seats get outlined in red piping, matching the red-trimmed glovebox in the movie where Bond retrieved his disassembled Armalite AR-7 rifle and telescopic sight. If a buyer wishes, he can order a custom black drinks case for the trunk, designed to fit two bottles of bubbly and four flutes. Aston Martin will make 50 examples of the Oh Ms. DBS priced at GBP300,000 (about $380,000). That's around $72,000 more than the standard GT, and we'd recommend splurging on bulletproof rear glass for the new DBS, too. That will still be an easier bullet to take than the track-only, GBP2.75 million Aston Martin Goldfinger DB5 Continuation Gadget.