Revealed in 2007 at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance , the Aston Martin DBS is by far one of the most beautiful cars out there. With an unique design and pure performance, the supercar was designed to fill the gap between road and track.
According to Aston Martin Chief Executive Officer, Dr Ulrich Bez, said: “The DBS is the ultimate expression of Aston Martin’s engineering and technical ability. It offers pure performance without compromise.
Featuring flowing curves, complex surfaces and an unrivaled sculptural beauty, the DBS is a classic Aston Martin in its every inch, but in the same time its aerodynamic excellence and impressive performances are the characteristics of a modern sports car.
When creating the DBS, Aston Martin focused on achieving the right balance between strength and mass, reason why, like DB9 and the DBR9 and DBRS9 race cars it is built on the VH (Vertical Horizontal) architecture. Thanks to this structure, the weight is being kept to a minimum, and with the front-mid mounted engine and rear-mid mounted transaxle the company obtained a near perfect weight distribution: 85%.
The four door Aston Martin Rapide sedan is not the only hot item coming out of the high performance English coach builder’s workshop. It appears that there is also a very interesting variant of the DBS sports car in the works. The spy photographers who snapped this shot are saying that the test car that was caught on camera was wearing a few high performance accessories, like a racing inspired suspension setup as well as a few performance modifications that give the DBS a harder image and turn James Bond’s automobile of choice into a true driver’s car.
This makes perfect sense since the chairman of the Aston Martin board is also the head of Prodrive, the outfit made famous for campaigning Ferrari’s in endurance racing and winning multiple World Rally Championships for the Japanese automaker Subaru. So it is only fitting that Aston Martin would like to produce a much more raw feeling sports car, perhaps it will even include a few tricks from the GT1 race car.
The standard Aston Martin DBS is powered by a hand-built 6.0 Liter V12 engine that produces a maximum output of 510 HP. This much power allows the latest DBS to go from 0 to 60 MPH in just 4.3 seconds and reach a top speed of 191 MPH.
The English coach builder Aston Martin has just revealed a new image gallery for the new DBS Volante that was unveiled back at the Geneva Motor Show. The DBS Volante is powered by the same 6.0 Liter V12 engine that is found in the DBS coupe. In either configuration, the power plant pumps out 510 HP and 420 lb-ft of torque. This allows the Volante to accelerate from 0 to 60 MPH in just 4.3 seconds and reach a top speed of 191 MPH.
Top Speed had the opportunity to attend an exclusive preview of Aston Martin’s latest full sized drop top speed machine, with the coach builder’s Director of Design Mareck Reichman. The DBS Volante debuted in Geneva this past March, but made its U.S. debut right here in Miami, kicking everything off with one heck of 007 inspired party.
The Voltane is powered by the familiar 6.0 Liter V12 making 510 HP, the interior is made up of no less than seven cow hides and audio is superbly handled by the the Bang & Olufsen system. Mr. Reichman was also kind enough to tell us a little bit about the special timepiece by Jaeger-LeCoultre.
Aston Martin is releasing a convertible version of James Bond daily driver. It was in Miami for a special preview this morning and while we are still editing an interview with Aston Martin director of design Mr. Reichman, enjoy some pictures of the finest British convertible on the road today.
Remember the watch we told you about from the party last night. The exclusive timepiece is officially known as the Aston Martin transponder watch made by Jaeger-LeCoultre and is the perfect accompaniment to the new DBS Volante. Aston Martin’s Director of Design, Marek Reichman, took time out of is busy schedule to give Top Speed a personal demonstration. The wrist watch can open and close the doors of the Aston as well as turn the lights on and off.
Did you know that James Bond originally wore a Jaeger-LeCoultre around his wrist? So it is only fitting that drop top DBS buyers can purchase an accessory that would make even Q jealous. Retailing for around $40,000 the wristwatch will easily make any new Volante owner feel just like 007.
Kicking off Aston Martin’s exclusive preview of the 2010 DBS Volante, they decided to throw a party dedicated to the new drop top, and Top Speed was invited. The evening started in Miami’s fashionable Design District as we were given the velvet rope treatment and offered a variety of 007 inspired cocktails. The ravioli covered in vodka sauce was just perfect with a spoonful of parmesan.
From the DB9s and Vantage out front to the pair of DBS models inside, we were surrounded by over a million dollars worth of Aston Martin. You can’t truly appreciate the difference between the base V8 and the new Volante until you look at all of the models in one place. What stuck out most about the new drop top was the meticulous use of carbon fiber, not necessarily as a lightweight replacement, but as pure eye candy. From the mirror supports to the rear diffuser, the design team from Gaydon did a fine job applying the wavy black stuff.
There were James Bond clips playing on the ceiling, and TV stars in the audience. The music was light and the mood was right for quite a few South Florida partygoers last night. Aston Martin was even showing of a highly decorated $40,000 wrist that matches the $300,000 car. It sure is nice to be privileged in South Beach.
We knew the Aston Martin DBS Volante was going to break cover in Geneva next week, but thanks to a broken embargo (not us, we swear), we’re able to talk about it before we see the roadster at the auto show.
The DBS Volante is powered by the 6.0-liter V12 engine also found in the DBS coupe. In both applications, the powerplant pumps out 510 bhp and 420 lb ft of torque. This helps the Volante make the 0-62 mph (0-100 km/h) sprint in 4.3 seconds and hit a top speed of 191 mph. The topless DBS also comes with carbon ceramic brakes and a six-speed manual transmission or automatic six-speed ‘Touchtronic’ option is also available.
Aston is helping save some of the weight gained by removing the roof through composite materials. The hood, front wings and trunk are all made from carbon fiber.
If we were a little more juvenile, this would be the part where we make a reference about James Bond, seduction and toplessness. But we’re better than this (that’s what the comment section is for.)
Full breakdown in the press release after the jump.
We knew that Aston Martin was working on a topless version of the DBS (it even asked for suggestions for a name). Now rumors are going around that the cars is almost complete, and we’ll see it for the first time at the Geneva Motor Show in March.
Aside from the fabric roof, the Aston Martin DBS Volante will be identical to its coupe brother. It will be powered by the same 6.0-liter V12 engine that delivers 510bhp at 6500rpm and a peak torque of 420 lb.ft at 5750rpm. The coupe version accelerates from 0 to 62 mph in 4.3 seconds and can hit a top speed of 191 mph, so we expect similar figures from the topless version.
We first saw Jaeger-LeCoultre’s watch for the Aston Martin DBS back in August, but we don’t mind showing it again now that we have video because it’s just so damn cool.
There might be higher-tech products out there, like proximity transponders that will unlock a car just by approaching it, but that doesn’t matter. Every kid who grew up with James Bond’s gadgets will drool for this watch. Just remember dribble does not look good on your tux.
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