2021 Aston Martin Dbx on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Aston Martin DB5 'No Time to Die' Edition takes 007 to the tikes

Last August, The Little Car Company introduced the Aston Martin DB5 Junior. It was a two-thirds-scale replica of the life-sized item, with an electric powertrain in place of the inline-six, made for kids whose leases were up on their Little Tikes Cars and wanted to get into something more mature. A year later, with the new James Bond film No Time to Die finally reaching theaters at the end of this month, The Little Car Company (TLC) has rolled out a DB5 Junior No Time to Die Edition in its sales garage. Working with Aston Martin, Eon Productions, and Bond film special effects supervisor Chris Corbould, the newest little Aston gets more power and a host of gadgets. The original DB5 Junior contained a 1.8-kWh battery pack powering a 6.7-horsepower motor, and could be driven in Novice or Expert modes. The Bond-themed version has been uprated to a 7.2-kWh pack turning a 21.5-hp motor, and can be piloted in Novice, Expert, Competition and Escape modes. It's the most powerful vehicle the company currently offers, and can go up to 80 miles on a charge. Fidelity to the original includes Silver Birch paint and Smiths instruments, although a couple of gauges have been swapped out to serve an EV powertrain instead of internal combustion. The Bilstein dampers and Brembo brakes with brake regeneration are subtle improvements. And true, Daniel Craig's Bond doesn't drive the droptop DB5, but TLC made a Q Branch executive decision so that parents could fit in the car beside their kids.   Gadgets are controlled by a hidden switch panel in the passenger's door, because agents-in-training should focus on driving. They goodies menu lists a digital license plate, fake Gatling guns behind the headlights, a real smokescreen generator emitted through exhaust tips, and a skid mode. Owners of the last year's DB5 Junior will get first right of refusal to purchase the No Time to Die Edition. Unlike the original, which TLC made 1,059 examples of, the DB5 Junior No Time to Die Edition will be limited to 125 units. The new version doubles the price of the original, costing GBP90,000 ($122,616 U.S.) plus tax to become a miniature agent in Her Majesty's Secret Service.  Related Video:

New Bond car nets Xcar Aston Martin retrospective

Well, there's something to be said for timing. With the announcement that MI6 Agent James Bond would take the wheel of the all-new Aston Martin DB10 in his next film, Spectre, Xcar has taken a look back at 007's most iconic vehicle – the DB5. There's also something about some such special edition Vanquish, but it all kind of pales in the glory of the iconic DB5. Okay, so it's not just some special edition Vanquish. It's the gorgeous Centenary Edition, a limited run of just 100 cars – one for each of Aston Martin's history – that's been adorned inside and out with a number of premium touches. In the other corner, though, there's the real subject of Xcar's latest video. This stunning example of the DB5 only gets puttered around a parking garage, but that doesn't make it any less beautiful. Take a look.

Amadeo Felisa replaces Tobias Moers as Aston Martin CEO

Aston Martin Lagonda on Wednesday named former Ferrari boss Amedeo Felisa as its new chief executive officer as the British luxury carmaker works on emulating the Italian carmaker's success and electrifying its brand. Felisa will take over with immediate effect from Tobias Moers, who joined the company in 2020 from shareholder Mercedes-Benz's high-performance AMG brand and served as CEO and chief technical officer. Felisa currently serves on Aston Martin's board and led Ferrari between 2008 and 2016 when it was still part of the Fiat group. Most recently, Felisa served as a special adviser to Silk-FAW, a joint venture between U.S.-based automotive engineering and design firm Silk EV and Chinese automaker FAW. Billionaire Lawrence Stroll drove to the rescue of James Bond's car brand of choice less than two years ago while it struggled after a disastrous IPO. Stroll has overseen a manufacturing makeover at Aston Martin to lift margins and help it become more like rival Ferrari with more customized car orders. Now the carmaker's largest shareholder and executive chairman, Stroll told Reuters that Moers had stabilized the company when it "needed immediate manufacturing, operation attention" but now Aston Martin needed a CEO to "focus on the bigger picture". "Nobody knows how to make ultra-luxury performance cars better than Amedeo," Stroll said. "He saw the movie, he wrote the script." Aston Martin plans to launch its first fully-electric car in 2025. Aston also named former Ferrari and BMW executive Roberto Fedeli as its chief technical officer. The latest appointments come just months after the company's former chief financial office also left Aston Martin. Jefferies analyst Philippe Houchois wrote in a client note that Aston Martin's new CFO and the appointment of Felisa "will hopefully help stabilize management across the company". On Wednesday, Aston Martin reported a wider pretax loss of 111.6 million pounds ($139.15 million) for the first quarter, compared with a loss of 42.2 million pounds a year earlier, which was largely in line with expectations. Related video: Hirings/Firings/Layoffs Aston Martin