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Aston Martin DBS Superleggera Volante is coming soon for $329,100

You've seen the coupe and read the reviews. You've seen the spy shots filtering out of the Nurburgring. And now you've finally, digitally and officially, seen the Aston Martin DBS Superleggera Volante. It's exactly what you'd expect — take the DBS Superleggera, keep its twin-tubrocharged 5.2-liter V12 engine and eight-speed automatic transmission, ditch its hardtop in favor of a folding convertible mechanism, add a drop of sunshine and a copious extra dose of wailing exhaust note, stir and enjoy. Aston Martin boasts that the DBS Superleggera Volante's top speed of 211 miles per hour matches that of the coupe and makes it the fastest convertible ever to roll out of Gaydon. Its quoted 0-62 mph time of 3.6 seconds (.02 seconds behind the coupe) and 0-100 time of 6.7 seconds means it's no slouch in the acceleration department, either, despite its quoted dry weight of 4,107 pounds. Fortunately, that heft (375 pounds more than the coupe) is distributed equally over the front and rear wheels. A revised aerodynamics package that includes a front spoiler and airdam, side strakes that are deeper than those of the coupe, a double rear diffuser and a so-called Aeroblade II all combine to deliver 390 pounds of downforce. That's just 6.6 pounds less than the coupe, despite the inherent aero penalty caused by the removal of the roof. It takes just 14 seconds to open and 16 seconds to close the soft top. At 10.2 inches, Aston says the folded roof stack is the smallest in its segment, and the top is offered in eight colors. A twill carbon fiber mesh finish is optional for the windshield surround, as well as the rear tonneau cover. Want one? You'll have to wait for the third quarter of 2019 to order the DBS Superleggera Volante in the United States. And you'll need a check for $329,100.

Get lost in Evo's sublime 2013 Car of the Year testing

Every year Evo stages its Car of the Year test, bringing the best performance cars in the world to one location for an epic shootout. This year the magazine pitted eight CotY finalists against each other on Route Napoleon in Southern France - Evo claims it's the "best road in the world" - and then proceeded to nitpick the smallest of faults on each car until the winner could be named. You see, this year's lineup of machines was just so good that only one car obviously wasn't CotY material from the get-go. Can you guess which one judging from the list below?
- Aston Martin V12 Vantage S
- Audi R8 V10 Plus

Lotus and Aston Martin to hook up?

This has been a tumultuous year for Lotus - to say the least - from the company being sold off back in January to its CEO Dany Bahar being fired in June to its questionable financial status and rumors of the British automaker being sold off to another automaker. First, we heard that Volkswagen was interested in acquiring Lotus and parent company Proton, a rumor that was later dismissed. Now Automobile is reporting that fellow Brit Aston Martin could be in the market to work with or possibly even merge with Lotus.
While this is pure speculation at this point, such a venture could prove to be beneficial for both independent companies. That's because with Lotus focused on lightweight, relatively affordable sports cars and Aston Martin producing high-end performance cars, there is virtually no product overlap between the companies. The article suggests that a person or company wanting to merge these two automakers would have to raise between $1.1 billion and $1.6 billion in order to make a go of it, however.
We're not sure what to think of this latest rumor, but anything that can help get the struggling brand back to health at least has our interest.