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UK offers Aston Martin military base to produce DBX in Wales

The British government is doing its best to encourage Aston Martin to build the DBX in the United Kingdom. To that end, Prime Minister David Cameron made a public offer to the automaker Thursday to make use of a military facility in Wales to produce the crossover. The location is St Athan, a Royal Air Force base and Ministry of Defence facility with space left vacant since a planned military academy earmarked for the site was canceled less than five years ago. One of its empty hangars is what Cameron offered to Aston Martin, according to the BBC. The facility is located near the airport in the Welsh capital of Cardiff, a little over two hours from the company's headquarters and principal manufacturing site in Gaydon. If Aston takes the bait, the site would be used to manufacture the DBX that would become the company's first crossover. Rivals Jaguar, Bentley, Maserati, and Lamborghini are all planning to launch their first crossovers, as well. Aston showcased a concept version of the DBX at the Geneva Motor Show this March, but the production version is expected to go a bit more mainstream, ditching the electric powertrain and two-door layout in favor of more conventional propulsion and four-door setup. The company is also said to be considering opening a new facility in the United States, specifically in Alabama near the Mercedes plant there, to handle production of the DBX. Other locations within the UK are also said to be under consideration, but Aston has yet to make a decision – or at least an announcement – on where the crossover might be assembled. When Aston previously branched out with the launch of the Rapide, it contracted Magna Steyr to handle assembly on its behalf in Austria, before moving production back home. The contract manufacturing facility is the same to which the Jaguar Land Rover is expected to entrust assembly of the F-Pace crossover. It's also where the G-Class is built for Mercedes, which in turn similarly hired AM General recently to assume production of the R-Class crossover. Related Video:

Watch Top Gear lap the Aston Martin Vulcan at Yas Marina

Late last month, we reported on Top Gear – that's the magazine, not the TV show – getting its first crack at the new Aston Martin Vulcan. While impressions of the track star were limited to text, the famous British mag has now released video of its close encounter at the Yas Marina Circuit. You want to watch this video. Despite Top Gear not actually being on the air, it's pretty clear the video team on the magazine end has taken a lot of inspiration from the telly. Stylistically, this is a good thing. But it's also good because of the details we can see on the Vulcan. Every louver, scoop, and slat seems to get attention, and the footage where the entire car is featured is just gorgeous. If you don't have flashbacks of Clarkson, Hammond, and May within the first five seconds of the video – when the Vulcan executes a lovely slide on corner exit – then we suggest you watch more TG. Driving the car is Ollie Marriage, the same bloke that wrote last month's piece on the Vulcan, and his sentiments largely echo the text. Only, you know, there's a lot more engine noise. And gear whine. And flames. Like we said, you want to watch this video. And you can. It's embedded up top. Have a look. Related Video:

2023 Aston Martin DBX S shows its muscular-looking profile

Aston Martin is slowly taking the wraps off of a more powerful evolution of the DBX. Possibly assigned the S suffix, the hot-rodded family-hauler will stand proud as the world's most powerful luxury SUV when it makes its official debut online on February 1, 2022. The model remains shrouded in darkness, but the latest preview image published by the British firm is a lot more informative than the video it previously released. We can tell several styling cues differentiate the S and the regular DBX, including model-specific wheels and a bigger roof-mounted spoiler. It also looks like the quicker and more powerful variant rides lower, which hints at a series of suspension tweaks. As we've previously reported, the DBX S will likely land with a V8 engine rather than with a V12. Specifications haven't been released yet, but Aston Martin pledged that it designed the model as "the world's most powerful luxury SUV," a crown that will require over 670 horsepower to claim. We're guessing that the eight-cylinder in question will be a version of the Mercedes-AMG-sourced 4.0-liter found in the standard DBX, among other Aston Martin models. It will be twin-turbocharged, and it will spin the four wheels via an automatic transmission; nothing suggests that the S will be a hardcore, track-ready machine with a seven-speed manual transmission and a gutted interior. More information about the 2023 Aston Martin DBX S (assuming that's indeed what it's called) will emerge in the coming days, and its full reveal is scheduled for February 1, 2022. Sales should start shortly after with a base price pegged somewhere north of $180,000.   Watch us test drive the Aston Martin DB11: Aston Martin Crossover SUV Luxury Performance