2006 Aston Martin V8 Vantage 6-speed Manual on 2040-cars

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Aston Martin stock price shaken and stirred by latest weak outlook

Aston Martin warned its 2019 profits would almost be cut in half due to weak European markets, sending its shares sharply lower as rivals Bentley and Rolls-Royce powered ahead. Tuesday's downgrade is the latest from the British luxury carmaker, whose shares have now plunged about three quarters in value since their 2018 listing. The 107-year-old firm, famed for being fictional agent James Bond's brand of choice, cut its forecast for wholesale volumes and profit margins in July, and reduced its volume forecast again in November. It has blamed weak UK and European markets and subdued demand for its Vantage model and said on Tuesday those conditions continued through December, leading to a 7% drop in wholesale volumes for 2019. "From a trading perspective, 2019 has been a very disappointing year," Chief Executive Officer Andy Palmer said, as the company's shares plunged as much as 16%. While Aston spent 2019 ploughing money into a new factory to build its first SUV, the highly lucrative market a number of carmakers have entered, rivals such as BMW-owned Rolls-Royce and Volkswagen-owned Bentley appear one step ahead. Bentley on Tuesday said its Bentayga SUV boosted the brand's performance in 2019 as it returned to profitability, while Rolls-Royce's Cullinan helped drive a 25% increase in sales to an all-time high of 5,152 vehicles. "Cullinan has proven to be an outstanding hot seller for the brand," Chief Executive Torsten Mueller-Oetvoes told Reuters. "We are sitting now on an order bank reaching even far into 2020." Aston hopes its first SUV, the DBX, will emulate this success and revive its fortunes next year. About 1,800 orders have been booked since its launch in November, the company said. "The order rate is materially better than any other car that we have ever launched before," Palmer told Reuters. For 2019, Aston expects adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of 130-140 million pounds ($171 million to $184 million). The company reported 247.3 million pounds in core profit a year earlier, while analysts' average forecast was 196 million pounds for 2019, according to a company-compiled consensus. Aston said it was also in talks with investors for a potential equity investment and would draw down $100 million in bond notes. Its shares, which have lost nearly 3 billion pounds in market value since their listing, were down 11.1% to 464.8 pence at 1136 GMT.  

Aston Martin reveals new AMB 001 motorcycle, its first

Aston Martin has taken the wraps off a limited-edition lightweight racing bike called the AMB 001, its first-ever motorcycle, at EICMA in Milan, revealing a sculpted, vaguely retrofuturistic melding of form and function that is the first offering from a new partnership with English bike maker Brough Superior Motorcycles. Featuring a double wishbone front fork, the track-only bike represents a marriage of Aston’s design and Brough SuperiorÂ’s engineering. ItÂ’s inspired by AstonÂ’s current crop of mid-engine sports cars, presented in the brandÂ’s racing colors of Stirling green and lime essence with matte black wheels, forks and brake assemblies mixed in with unadorned carbon fiber. The latter material features on the signature fin, which derives its design from the side strake on Aston cars and which runs atop the bike along the length of the gas tank, under the saddle and out back. Another carryover is the same stainless-steel ultra-light wings that feature on the Valkyrie sitting under the lacquer of the bodywork on the nose and tank. There are also aerodynamic wings attached to the cowl on the front of the bike that harken to the S-curve on the front of an Aston Martin to apply downforce. Carbon fiber figures in the body structure, and titanium and billet aluminum feature elsewhere. The hand-stritched saddle is made of Oxford tan leather. The bike is powered by a V-twin turbocharged engine that makes its first appearance on a Brough Superior bike. It makes 180 horsepower, although thereÂ’s no information offered on top speed. The bikeÂ’s dry weight is just under 397 pounds. Just 100 examples will be built at the Brough Superior plant in Toulouse, France. Starting price is 108,000 euros (about $119,809 at current exchange rates), including a 20% VAT, with first deliveries expected in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Top Gear caught filming Best of British near Buckingham Palace

YouTuber and car-fan extraordinaire Shmee probably had very little trouble tracking down the Top Gear film crew recently, as the group was putting together an episode that could accurately be described as "excessive." With its flag-waving (literally) Best of British theme, the TG guys gathered a jaw-dropping array of British cars, and parked them all right in front of Buckingham Palace to make extra sure that the point was driven home.
Top Gear hosts Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May were outfitted with a trio of Jaguar F-Types festooned with gigantic Union Jacks, with which to survey the landscape of British motoring glory. In the video below, you'll see that this includes any number of Mini, Aston Martin, Lotus, McLaren, Land Rover, Bentley and Rolls-Royce models (just to name a few), as well as a healthy dose of weird stuff that most people would never guess at being built in the UK. The lawnmowers and military vehicles are especially cool.