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Aston Martin hits the open water with Quintessence Yachts

We know, we know: life is tough. You drive your Aston Martin Vanquish Volante from your mansion to the yacht club, and then what? Just get on board any old yacht? Of course not. You're going to need an Aston Martin speedboat, and fortunately that's just what we have here. Born of a partnership among the British automaker, Dutch boatbuilder Quintessence Yachts, and the naval architects at Mulder Design, is the upcoming AM37. The speedboat, as you might have guessed, measures 37 feet long – which is a little more than two Rapides parked end to end (or nearly four Cygnets). Though there's only three images, we can already see the vessel's design takes cues from Aston's luxury GTs, particularly in the driving console. It looks a lot sleeker, at any rate, than the Voyage design we saw a few years ago, and at least as cool as the 20-foot speedboat Ian Callum designed to go with the Jaguar XF Sportbrake. Full technical details have yet to be released as well, but Quintessence says the vessel will feature a "hi-tech composite structure allied to luxury sports car-like handling, performance and comfort." It'll also incorporate voice control and touchscreen display for the navigation and multimedia system. The yacht will be offered in two versions: the AM37 with a top speed of around 50 knots (the maritime equivalent of 57 miles per hour) and the AM37 S that'll top out at 60 knots (nearly 70 mph). That's mighty fast on the open water, with no stop signs or traffic gridlock to slow you down. Just the waves on the open water. We don't know what will motivate the vessel to such speeds, but we're hoping for a marine version of Aston's signature 6.0-liter V12. Maybe even two of 'em. It wouldn't be unheard of, after all: Lamborghini has made boat engines, and a Ferrari-powered hydroplane set a longstanding record in the 1950s. Far more than the usual branded wristwatch or luggage, we're looking forward to seeing this one (quite literally) launch. Driven to succeed: Quintessence Yachts and Aston Martin • Exciting sports car firm association creates a series of unique powerboats • Stunning style, advanced technologies and exquisite craftsmanship • Highest standards of yacht design and construction 29 April 2015, Gaydon: Quintessence Yachts is today unveiling the first details of an exciting association with famous luxury British sports car maker Aston Martin which will result in the creation of a unique series of stunning new powerboats.

Nissan could have bought a stake in Aston Martin as early as 2012

Aston Martin has a very interesting future ahead of it. While the British brand appeared to be struggling with aging tech for a while, fresh investment from Daimler may have shown a light toward the future with the brand getting engines and electronics from them. Also, former Renault-Nissan top exec Andy Palmer has jumped ship from the French/Japanese automaker to become CEO of the much smaller sports car company. Interestingly, though, new reports from unnamed Nissan sources have indicated that Palmer has been pushing to work with AM for years.
Three unnamed company insiders told Reuters that Palmer made attempts to convince Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn in 2012 and 2013 to invest in Aston Martin, but his proposals were shot down both times for unspecified reasons, according to Automotive News. "We looked carefully at the proposal but we passed on it," said one of the sources.
You can easily see why Palmer was eying Aston Martin even back in 2012. It's no secret that the British sports car mavens were in need of extra funding, well before the Daimler investment. Building vehicles these days is only getting more expensive with stronger safety and emissions requirements. Just look at the brand's desperate hope to get a side-impact crash exemption to keep selling its models in the US as an example.

2018 Aston Martin DB11 AMR Review | A private world of comfort and speed

There are moments when miniscule adjustments to something wonderful can yield unforeseen enhancements. The addition of a dash of Maraschino liqueur to a perfect Manhattan. The application of a few Newton-meters more pressure in a deep tissue massage. Gold-plating the wire wheels on your Commodore Blue Continental Package-equipped 1985 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz Convertible. So it is with the Aston Martin DB11 AMR, a slight tweak to the Aston Martin DB11 V12 — already one of our favorite grand tourers. The non-AMR DB11 hosts the ideal combination of profligate luxury, recherche exclusivity, and muscular performance. (The V8 is also ... fine.) But Aston Martin's new AMR performance sub-brand has drizzled its speed effluent onto the DB's componentry and software. The result borders on transcendent. AMR was launched at the Geneva Motor Show in 2017 as the storied British marque's go-fast subsidiary (its M or AMG, if you will). Inspired in name, if not in mission, by the Aston Martin Racing team, it has already resulted in the AMR-ization of a half-dozen Aston vehicles including iterations of the Rapide, Vulcan, Valkyrie, and previous-generation Vantage. The $241,000 DB11 is the seventh in that series, and it will take the place of the "base" DB11 V12 when it appears in the states later this summer. Since Aston recently opened the first of its fancy-pants AMR Performance Centers adjacent to Germany's famed Nurburgring racetrack, it seemed fitting that our test drive of the new car commence there. We snagged the DB's crystal-tipped key fob and spent a couple days tearing everywhere in the Rhineland region that wasn't the "Ring," including narrow wending mountain roads, expertly paved two-lane byways, and unlimited Autobahn uber-highways. AMR's sorcery has, as noted, yielded relatively small changes on paper. The twin-turbocharged 5.2-liter 12-cylinder now makes just 5 percent more horses, for a total of 630. The dampers and springs have been stiffened by about 10 percent, the anti-roll bars front and rear by half that and half again. More rigid engine and transmission mounts have been added for greater stolidity. The transmission has been remapped for increased differentiation across the GT, Sport, and Sport Plus driving modes, selectable via a switch on the right side of the steering wheel.