Yahoo Autos The DB11 Is the Car Aston Martin Needs Right Now
Like the styling or not, the DB11 is dressed to kill. It needs to be, because Aston Martin has to start making money if it wants to have a chance to see its 200th birthday in 2113. Or even its 110th, just seven years from now.
The DB11 is clearly the first product designed for the customer of the 21st century, and it's so important for the brand that apparently, Aston CEO Andy Palmer will personally inspect the first 1000 cars that roll off the assembly line, to ensure they're perfect in every way. After the sign-off, those lucky buyers will end up with a luxury GT built on a new aluminum platform and powered by Aston's very own 5.2-liter twin-turbo V12 linked to a ZF 8-speed automatic. The new engine produces 600 hp and 516 lb.-ft. from as low as 1500 rpm, making this a 200 mph road trip champion that can get to sixty in under four seconds despite weighing almost 4200 lbs.
It also has 3-way adjustable damping, electric power steering and ABS-based torque vectoring, while inside the cabin, you get real metal, leather and wood complete with a Mercedes-designed infotainment system. It's bigger, more comfortable and a lot more practical than any DB car before, and Matt Prior, the lucky guy who we last saw driving the Vulcan, says this package should do the job just fine:
The British brand's further plans include building an insane naturally-aspirated hypercar with Red Bull's genius Adrian Newey, coming up with an SUV that's not an SUV at all, turning the Rapide into the electric sedan of your dreams, and developing a new Vantage with a manual gearbox option. As the icing on the cake, each new Aston will have unique, distinctive styling. Hear that, Audi?
