Top speed is an electrically-restrained 180mph, with the CC100 slamming through a six-speed hydraulically-actuated auto sequential manual gearbox. That’s controlled using paddle-shifters on the wheel in the driver’s pod; accommodation in the Speedster Concept is for two, with each getting a separately-braced area in the carbon-fiber cabin.

Although rain and wind might be an issue – there’s no roof, and no windshield – the CC100′s interior is otherwise relatively luxurious for a racing-oriented concept. As well as carbon-fiber there’s Bridge of Weir leather, glass buttons, and the same glass starter-button as on Aston Martin’s production road cars. The slimline doors – more like safety bars – hinge up and out to allow you to squeeze into the hide-covered racing seats.

Aston Martin CC100:

In all, it’s nearly 4.5m long and more than 2m wide, though interestingly shares a lot of the underlying chassis technology with the car company’s more mainstream range. Under the lightweight carbon-fiber is Aston Martin’s Vertical Horizontal Platform, a multi-purpose structure which is specially fettled for each car, whether it be the four-door Rapide or tourers like the DB9.

The CC100 made its public debut this weekend, at the ADAC Zurich 24 Hours of Nürburgring race, alongside the same Aston Martin DBR1 that completed the 1959 race. At the wheel of the classic was the same driver who guided it round those 1,000km (621 miles) 54 years ago, racing driver Sir Stirling Moss.

Unfortunately, there are no plans – public, at least – to create a production version of the CC100 Speedster Concept. However, given sufficient demand it’s possible that Aston Martin could relent on that front, and start a small-scale production run in a similar manner to its bespoke One-77 supercar.

The car raced around the roughly 15-mile Nordschleife circuit in Germany for about four hours, but the company didn’t reveal lap times unfortunately. However, we’re guessing the car is able to go pretty fast, especially if Aston Martin is confident enough to enter it into the 24-hour race later this month.

The car is powered by a prototype twin-turbo 6.0-liter V12 engine that’s capable of running on hydrogen, gasoline, or a combination of the two, allowing it to go the extra distance on zero emissions. This is the same engine that will be in the production Rapide S that will hit show floors in the next few weeks, but without the hydrogen hybrid feature of course.

While the test laps are impressive, the real test for the hydrogen-powered car will be racing a non-stop 24 hours come May 19-20. Nobody’s really sure how the car will hold up for a straight 24 hours, but if the hydrogen portion of the car does end up failing at some point, at least there’s the gasoline portion that will keep on chugging along.

The car features a twin-turbo 6.0-liter V12 engine that’s capable of running on hydrogen, gasoline, or a combination of the two. This is the same engine in the production Rapide S that will hit show floors in the next few weeks (without the hydrogen hybrid feature). Aston Martin is hoping that the race car will be able to run a full lap on zero emissions with only water emitted from the exhaust.

The Hybrid Hydrogen Rapide S uses a hydrogen fuel rail, storage tanks, and a proprietary engine management system to make things work, and the four hydrogen holding tanks are made from high-strength carbon fiber, which allow the tanks to hold a total of 7.7 pounds of hydrogen at over 5,000 psi. Two of the tanks are located next to the driver and the other two are in the trunk of the car.

As for the car’s speed, the Hybrid Hydrogen Rapide S can reach 190 mph and accelerate from zero to 60 mph in just under five seconds, which is fairly impressive, especially since it won’t be burning as much gasoline as the other cars in the field. Of course, the car that burns the least fuel isn’t the one that wins the race, but it’s always great when cars don’t have to use as much fuel.

[via European Car]

The car has what Aston calls an assertive new look. The assertive new look is very reminiscent of the old Aston Martin look. Despite having four-doors and being a large vehicle, Aston says that it is every inch a sports car with weight distribution of 48:52 front/rear. The car weighs 1990 kg and Aston lowered the engine by 20 mm to increase performance.

The car uses a 6.0-liter V12 producing 558 PS, 17% more power than the previous model. The engine also produces 620nm of torque. The engine will get the large vehicle from 0 to 62 mph in 4.9 seconds. The vehicle certainly looks good on the outside, and the style and impressive materials are carried over to the inside of the vehicle as well.

Check out the video below to see the car driving on some curvy roads. It certainly looks good, I particularly like the hidden door handles will almost make it look like a long coupe when it drives by. It sounds very good as well. Official pricing for the car is unclear, but you can rest assured it will be far from an affordable car. The vehicle will make its official debut in Geneva with all the details we want to know.

[via Aston Martin]

The return of the BMT 216A DB5 was announced in the latest Skyfall production video (which you can see below), and in it, director Sam Mendez hints that the return of the DB5 may signal a deeper connection between Skyfall and the Bond films of the ’60s. “I felt like it was a thematic thing,” he says. “It is about the old and the new, and there’s something about last part of the movie which is deliberately – very consciously could have taken place in 1962.”

Interesting, Mr. Mendez. What he means by that is anyone’s guess – we’ll have to wait until the movie releases later this year to find out – but perhaps he’s hinting at an incoming remake of Goldfinger or another Bond film from the ’60s? Remember that 2006′s Casino Royale served as a reboot for the series, so really any direction is possible. As stated above, we’re being left waiting for all of the details, but Mendez sure did get our ears to perk up with the announcement of the DB5′s return.

All that power goes via a Touchtronic 2 six-speed automatic gearbox with paddle-shifting, and in fact the 2012 Vanquish is the fastest full-production car in Aston’s range (the One-77 is more powerful, but only available in restricted numbers). Carbon-fiber body panels are used to keep weight down, and torsional rigidity is up by over 25-percent while the trunk is 60-percent larger than that of the Aston Martin DBS.

Two layout versions of the Vanquish will be on offer, either a 2+2 with (presumably rudimentary) rear seats, or as a 2+0 for those who’d prefer more squeeze-space for luggage. Legroom has increased by 37mm, shoulder room by 25mm, elbow room by 87mm and knee room by 50mm. Both have nearly 50:50 weight distribution.

Inside, it’s a cosseting womb of leather, exposed carbon fiber and other high-quality materials. The long center console is fronted by a single piece of material, presenting 6.5-inch display with a redesigned UI based on owner feedback, capacitive glass buttons with haptic feedback, and several USB and power points. There’s also a 1,000W Bang & Olufsen 15-speaker system, integrated Garmin navigation, Bluetooth, iPod/iPhone integration, satellite radio in the US, and a WiFi hub.

Deliveries of the new Aston Martin Vanquish will begin in late 2012 in the UK and Europe, with the car priced from £189,995 ($299,000) before you start ticking the spec-sheet boxes.

The car has a lot of carbon fiber exterior trim and a lot of interesting and attractive touches inside the car such as red stitching on the upholstery and diamond quilted inlays on the seats and door panels. The cars can be had with yellow, red, or black brake calipers. The car is available with manual or automatic transmission versions.

Aston Martin doesn’t mention the engine or power output for the car. That leads me to believe it’s the same engine as the standard DBS cars, which is good thing. The car is expected to have a 510 HP 6.0-liter V12 engine. This would be the perfect car for the next James Bond flick.

The heart of the vehicle is the Aston Martin V12 that displaces 6L it has 510 HP and 420 pound-feet of torque. I guess I’m a little jaded by 2013 Ford Shelby GT500 that has a supercharged V8 engine of 5.8L with 650 hp and 600 pound-feet of torque. Those four extra cylinders don’t do the Aston Martin much good in output department compared to the Ford V8.

Aston Martin will only build 150 of the special Zagato vehicles, and you need to be very wealthy to get your hands on one. Each vehicle will sell for £330,000 plus taxes. That makes it one of the most expensive cars Aston Martin produces as well as one of the coolest looking cars to wear the Aston Martin badge.

[via Top Gear]

That suit is more complicated than the sinuous curves might suggest. Each front wing in fact consists of seven pieces, formed using an English wheel and traditionally crafted body bucks and then combined; the distinctive bubble-roof took five pieces itself.

Best of all, this isn’t some museum show-piece that will never get above 5mph. Zagato has outfitted the V12 with a steel roll cage, front and rear double wishbone suspension with fully adjustable Multimatic DSSV Dampers, and a 120ltr endurance racing fuel tank. No word on pricing, but as of May 28 the car will be hurtling around the Nürburgring in advance of a 24hr race in June.

[via Top Gear]

First off there’s the transparent glass touchscreen, which is a single slab of solid sapphire crystal that has somehow had a full-color capacitive touch layer embedded. It’s framed by a couple of waifish platinum bars, into which Mobiado has relegated all the electronics and batteries.

The actual functionality is a little more realistic, with the promise of the CPT002 monitoring safety sensors and recording stats in case of a crash or emergency, FourSquare-powered points-of-interest and friend updates on the dashboard display, and even sharing photos from various cameras around the car on Facebook and Twitter. Don’t expect this in the showroom any time soon, though.

[via Android Community]

The research was apparently carried out among 2,000 consumers and then a panel of 35 industry insiders from the world of design, style magazines and websites.  The CoolStyle Council didn’t speculate as to why the iPhone might have been pipped to the top, though broader availability and increasing market saturation of the Apple device might have affected its “rarity” value.

[via Telegraph]

Though it’s based on the Toyota iQ, the grafting of the traditional Aston Martin snout onto the Cygnet has left it looking quite a lot like a Smart ForTwo.  Expect plenty of leather on the inside, as the company attempt to differentiate the Cygnet from its origins ahead of the expected European launch sometime in 2010.

Aston Martin originally said they intend to shift a mere 4,000 to 5,000 Cygnets per year, and in doing so they’ll likely take a big bite out of their overall CO2 output and MPG figures.  Considering incoming emissions regulations judge marques on the average of their results across the whole range, rather than on a model-by-model basis, the Cygnet will help drag down the eye-watering stats associated with Aston Martin’s more profligate sportscars.

It may feel like an April Fools joke – albeit one in late July – but there’s actually at least one very good reason for the Cygnet’s existence.  Incoming emissions legislation promises to be even more draconian to high-polluting marques, demanding cleaner engines and higher economy.  The rules, however, are based on a company’s overall average CO2 and MPG performance, meaning that the frugal Cygnet could help offset Aston Martin’s more profligate cars.

The company intends to sell 4,000-5,000 Cygnets per year, once the production model is finalized, differentiating it from the iQ by virtue of its premium finish.  Aston Martin and Toyota apparently began negotiations after sharing garage facilities at the Nürburgring 24-hour race.

[via Times Online]