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London man keys $150k Aston Martin while pushing stroller

Police are looking for a man who was caught on a dashboard camera keying a supercar last month while out for a stroll with a child in east London. The Aston Martin V8 Vantage was sitting in a parking spot in the London borough of Hackney. It was minding its own business – with its dashboard camera running – when it caught the eye of man passing by. Not unusual for a sleek sports car, but what happened next was unexpected. Instead of admiring its British design from afar he angled the pram off the curb and walked toward the car. Footage shows he then took an object out of his pocket and dragged it along the side of the Vantage's aluminum body panel. The owner of the Vantage told the BBC the damage cost over $14,000 to fix. In terms of cars to destroy, this vandal has excellent taste. The Vantage is small, light, and agile. The most affordable version, the V8 Vantage GT, comes with a full leather and Alcantara cabin, with thick contrasting stitching, combined with real carbon fiber and wood finished in piano black. It can sprint from zero to 60 mph in about 4.6 seconds. News Source: BBC Auto News Weird Car News Aston Martin Videos viral video vantage scratch

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

Aston Martin confirms its third mid-engine hypercar

Consider the rumors confirmed. Aston Martin will build a third mid-engine hypercar that's currently codenamed 003, following the Valkyrie (code 001) and track-specific Valkyrie AMR Pro (code 002). Aston Martin says 003 will borrow lots of technology from its forebears, including hybrid electric propulsion and carbon fiber-intensive construction. But there are some significant changes being baked into this third hypercar that will set it apart from the first two. First up, Aston Martin will use a turbocharged engine in 003. Both versions of the Valkyrie used naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12 powerplants co-developed with Cosworth. We don't have any power specifications for the turbocharged hybrid drivetrain of 003 yet, but we know the Valkyrie's V12 puts out as much as 1,130 horsepower from its gasoline-burning engine and electric motors. We can't say for certain, but we wouldn't bet against Aston pushing that figure further into the stratosphere with the turbo-enhanced unit that will power 003. Aston Martin also promises "active aerodynamics" that provide "outstanding levels of downforce in a road-legal car" to go along with "active suspension systems." Sounds like there's a good chance double-oh-three could be more advanced than its older siblings. That said, Aston says its third mid-engine hypercar is being designed for use on the road in addition to the track, with "more practical concessions to road use, including space for luggage." And all of that has our interest piqued. Something conspicuously absent from Aston Martin's latest hypercar announcement are any mentions of partnerships. Both Valkyrie models were designed with plenty of input from Red Bull Racing and its famous technical director, Adrian Newey. There's also no mention of Mercedes-Benz or its AMG division, from which the British automaker sources its current lineup of V8 engines. How much input will Red Bull have in 003? Will its turbocharged V8 be sourced from Mercedes-AMG? We'll just have to wait and see. What we do know, though, is that the FIA's Hypercar Concept racing series is sounding more interesting by the minute. And, if the sketch above is at all indicative of 003's actual production design, this third hypercar will be quite a bit different from the first two. Project 003 is expected to hit the road late in 2021. Global production will be capped at 500 units. Pricing, naturally, is not yet known, but if you have to ask, well, you know the rest.