By Alex Kramer

For the folks at Aston Martin, it’s apparently not enough to make some of the finest sports cars on the planet. With the recently unveiled Carbon Black Special Editions of the DBS and V12 Vantage models, Aston Martin can now claim to make some of the most exclusive cars on the road as well.

Although primarily a stylistic makeover, the Carbon Black treatment results in an understated but still absolutely stunning automobile. From the rich bespoke metallic black paint, which reportedly takes over 50 hours to apply, to the 10 spoke alloy wheels with diamond turned and gloss black finish, the stealthy look exudes power and sophistication.

Read the rest of this entry »

Contributing editors: Greg Gaillard, Alex Kramer, Kurt Gensheimer, Derek Mau

Despite 2008′s desperate measures to help auto manufacturers hold on to business as usual, 2009 brought only radical change leaving many old business practices and brands behind.

We have been spectators in this year of turmoil and watched the industry struggle to reinvent itself.  Two of The Big Three went bankrupt; one emerged with a global partner, the other became lean and focused.  Diesels are now faster than their gasoline counterparts. Nine out of ten EPA mpg champs are hybrids. VW bought Porsche while Porsche was buying VW.  Overall sales were millions of units short of expectations. Manufacturers now pin their hopes on the Chinese market, while Americans pray that the Volt is half as good as it needs to be. Somehow, during all of this turmoil Kia became cool.  What was once unthinkable has happened.

Amidst the mayhem consumer conservatism has redefined value to mean more than MSRP, monthly payments and residuals. Cars had better be good at what they do or people won’t buy them. The industry must meet the new expectation of great cars and real innovation. Tricky marketing and trend analysis will not build the product portfolios of the future.

While the industry was being shaken to its core, 2009 was a banner year for new technologies and remarkable products.  Read on to find out which cars persevered as CarReview’s best choices of 2009

Read the rest of this entry »

page 1 page 2 page 3 page 4 page 5 page 6 page 7 page 8

So Aston Martin, the car of choice for James Bond, has hired away a former Tesla executive to oversee global sales. Does that mean that Aston is in trouble, or that Tesla is finally becoming a serious player to be reckoned with in the automotive world? This is not to imply that Aston Martin IS in trouble, it’s just that in economic times like these, a car company like Aston Martin (or any other high end luxury brand) has to really watch its step. Either way, Aston has announced that Michael van der Sande has been appointed to the company’s newly created position of “Chief Commercial Officer”. Van der Sande, in addition to being on Aston Martin’s board of management will also report directly to CEO Dr Ulrich Bez.

The hiring move will, according to Bez, “will help us to further develop Aston Martin’s presence around the world.” Hmmm, then why hire a guy from Tesla, were there no other high profile automotive success stories out there?

Read the rest of this entry »

By Alex Kramer

Not content with simply having some of the finest luxury sports cars on the planet, Aston Martin has upped the ante in open-air motoring with its new DBS Volante convertible. Like the DBS Coupe (featured in the recent James Bond movie, “Quantum of Solace”) on which it is based, the DBS Volante is a statement in automotive design, combining supercar performance, sculpted elegance, and unbridled luxury.

We were fortunate enough to be invited to test the DBS Volante on a nice late-summer day, perfect for some top-down driving. Although we could only spend a short amount of time behind the wheel, a brief spin in the hills outside of Los Gatos, CA, confirmed that this is truly one of the finest automobiles on the road today.

Read the rest of this entry »