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Aston Martin reportedly cancels electric RapidE amid money troubles

Aston Martin's first production-bound electric car won't be based on the Rapide after all, according to a recent report. The British firm allegedly canceled the RapidE project after several costly delays. British magazine Autocar learned from a source close to Aston Martin that it has consigned the sedan to the automotive attic to focus on ramping up production of the DBX, its first SUV. It's a hugely important model that will make or break the company's 2020 balance sheet. Other seemingly random projects like the ACH130 helicopter co-developed with Airbus are much less distracting because there's little substance to them; it's essentially just a nice interior and an eye-catching paint job. The RapidE, however, was a new car under a familiar body. Presented as "a truly historic step" that would pelt Aston into the world of electrification, it snubbed the Rapide's 6.0-liter V12 and instead offered drivers an electric powertrain with 610 horsepower and a 65-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack. The firm quoted a 200-mile driving range, which is on par with the Porsche Taycan's EPA rating, and a 4-second sprint to 60 mph, which is about as quick as a gasoline-burning Rapide. Development work began in 2015 with the help of LeEco, a Chinese tech giant-turned-electric car manufacturer founded by Jia Yueting, the man behind Faraday Future. Aston Martin chose to finish funding the project on its own after money trouble forced LeEco out. Williams Advanced Engineering provided its expertise, but Aston Martin had to foot the bill on its own, so the RapidE went from a low-volume model to a limited-edition sedan. Aston Martin planned to make 155 examples of the RapidE in a new facility located in St. Athan, Wales. Each one carried a price tag reading "on application," which is automaker-speak for "really expensive," and one was spoken for by James Bond. We reached out to the company to verify Autocar's report, but were told they couldn't comment on future product speculation. There's no word yet on what this means for the other electric cars Aston has in the pipeline, including two luxury sedans previewed by concepts and intended to revive the dormant Lagonda name in the early 2020s. Featured Gallery Aston Martin Rapide E:Auto Shanghai 2019 View 11 Photos Green Aston Martin Electric Sedan

Dany Bahar plans Aston Martin shooting brake at Modena-based tuner

You can't keep a good man down, or so the saying goes. The jury may still be out on whether Dany Bahar was a good thing for the automotive industry – with some portraying him as an overambitious opportunist and others pitting him as a genuine car guy against the bean-counters – but he's not about to stay down for long. Bahar, for those unfamiliar, was a top executive at Red Bull, serving as right-hand man to Dietrich Mateschitz right around the time that the energy drink company was getting into Formula One and NASCAR. He was then poached by Ferrari to serve as its commercial chief and brand director before taking up the reins as CEO of Lotus. Things didn't go quite so well for him there after new owners fired him, accused him of misappropriating company funds and canceling just about every one of his ambitious (or perhaps overambitious) projects to take Lotus into the modern age. But now he's back on his feet. According to Car and Driver, Bahar's new project is a tuning house and coachbuilder called Ares. Similar to an outfit like Mansory (with which Bahar, incidentally, fostered close ties while at Lotus), Ares is out to make high-end vehicles like the Range Rover Sport, Rolls-Royce Wraith and Lamborghini Huracan that much more unique. But the biggest project Ares is planning to undertake is to turn the Aston Martin Rapide S and Bentley Continental GT into shooting brakes for wealthy customers. Ares wouldn't be the first outfit to do so, Bertone having made a wagon version of the Rapide and Touring having offered an extended-roof Continental. But to show he's not messing around, Bahar has assembled a top team at Ares. Wolf Zimmermann, who worked for Mercedes-AMG before becoming Bahar's R&D chief at Lotus, is handling the technical aspects. 24-year-old Romanian designer Mihai Panaitescu, who is said to have worked on those aborted Lotus projects, is handling the style aspect. And the whole outfit is being based in Modena, Italy – the city that is home to outfits like Pagani, Maserati and nearby Ferrari. Predictably enough, Ares will launch initially in China, Russia and the Middle East, but reportedly plans to make it to the US sometime early next year. Featured Gallery 2014 Aston Martin Rapide S: First Drive View 32 Photos News Source: Car and DriverImage Credit: Copyright 2014 Drew Phillips / AOL Aftermarket Aston Martin dany bahar aston martin rapide s

Aston Martin recalling 6,076 for locking doors

The Basics: Aston Martin is recalling 6,076 cars because of an issue with the vehicles' door locks. The vehicles include: the 2010-2015 Aston Martin DB9, 2010-2012 DBS, 2010-2016 Rapide, 2010-2016 V8 Vantage, 2012 Virage, 2014-2016 Vanquish, 2011-2016 V12 Vantage, and 2012-2013 V12 Zagato. The Problem: The affected cars, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), come with interior door unlocking components that may not function properly when the car is locked from the outside. This may result in an occupant being trapped inside the vehicle. Injuries/Deaths: None reported. The Fix: Aston Martin dealers will disable the vehicles' double locking feature by reprogramming the mechanism's software at no charge. If you own one: Aston Martin will notify owners with the recall expected to begin in August. Related Video: Description of the Noncompliance: The subject vehicles contain a full locking system software, which according to an interpretation letter issued by NHTSA, does not meet certain door lock requirements of the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 206, Door locks and door retention components (49 C.F.R §571.206). In the subject vehicles, each door is equipped with a locking mechanism with an operating means from the interior of the vehicle. However, when the full locking system is mobilised (by double locking the vehicle), this disengages the interior operating means for unlocking the door locking mechanism. As such, the full locking system is an effective anti-theft measure. FMVSS 1 : 206 - Door locks and door retention components FMVSS 2 : NR Description of the Safety Risk: In an affected vehicle, where the full locking system has been activated from the exterior, there is a risk that occupants are unable to unlock the doors from the inside of the vehicle. In relation to our 4-door sports cars (Rapide and Rapide S), this risk is the same as if a person were in a vehicle in which the child locks were engaged. However, all our vehicles have an acoustic warning device (i.e. horn), which can still be activated from the interior of the vehicle when the ignition is switched off and the full locking system is activated. Furthermore, some vehicles are fitted with an alarm system with interior detection, which is able to detect an occupant's movement and will activate the vehicle's alarm if the full locking mechanism is activated and occupants are detected inside the vehicle.