Friday 1st September 2006

Aston Martin DBS: exclusive pictures

James Bond car seen at the 'Ring

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PistonHeads' ace snapper Sebastian Geisler has been at it again. He's captured the latest, soon-to-be-released Aston Martin, the DBS.

The DBS, a lightly disguised test version of which is seen here circulating at the Nürburgring, is James Bond's next car in the film Casino Royale, due out in November. Although Aston Martin has yet to release details, the car is based on the DB9 but sits lower, and the V12 is uprated to over 500bhp. Only 300 will be made.

Design Director, Marek Reichman, said: "This car encapsulates a link between our elegant DB9 road car and the powerful DBR9 race car."

Aston Martin boss Dr Ulrich Bez said: "The DBS continues our proud and lengthy association with James Bond. The DBS is not of the understated elegance of a DB9, nor the youthful agility of the V8 Vantage. It is explosive power in a black tie and has its own unique character which will equal that of James Bond."

[sidesauce]

ooooh, yeah.... l think l felt a stirring in my loins...

[lathamjohnp]

Badge reads DBRS9. Would be more understated de-badged :-)

[aston67]

yawnnn... I love Astons, really I do but this is Vantage DB 9 with some tarted up bodywork. Not a lot of new design there.. a tweak of the engine and off you go

£170,000 x 300 cars = £51 million please... kerrrrrrchinnng

I have to doff my cap to AM PR/marketing boffins: that's the way to do it

I am sorry but this car is not exactly groundbreaking like the Vanquish... it is a clever marketing exercise. Preeeetty car but it ends there.

I would rather have the late 90s V8 Vantage LeMans. 600 bhp under the bonnet...

Edited by aston67 on Friday 1st September 13:10

[AdvocatusDiaboli]

Everything Aston and Porsche produce looks the same... They need try something new. The Vantage, DBS and DB9 all look almost identical... Just the scale and profile differs to my eye.

As for Porsche... even there new "planned" 928 revival looks like a 911 in the front!

[r988]

AdvocatusDiaboli said:

Everything Aston and Porsche produce looks the same... They need try something new. The Vantage, DBS and DB9 all look almost identical... Just the scale and profile differs to my eye.

As for Porsche... even there new "planned" 928 revival looks like a 911 in the front!

But then they dont have to pay for multiple designs.

[AdvocatusDiaboli]

r988 said:

But then they dont have to pay for multiple designs.

Maybe so - but surely that is not what an enthusiast gives a toss about! They should take a leaf out of Ferrari's or Lambo's book... all the cars look different and are differnt animals - afterall, Aston's cars cost as much!

[FestivAli]

Looks nicer in black when the plastic bits aren't so prominent - now it looks menacing rather than ricey. I like it very much. An Aston Martin M3.

Ali.

[r988]

AdvocatusDiaboli said:

r988 said:

But then they dont have to pay for multiple designs.

Maybe so - but surely that is not what an enthusiast gives a toss about! They should take a leaf out of Ferrari's or Lambo's book... all the cars look different and are differnt animals - afterall, Aston's cars cost as much!

History shows that Porsche and Aston have rarely changed designs much, DB4/5/6 all looked pretty damn similar for a start, and lets not get into the Porker 911. The only time either group really tried something new was in the 1970s it didn't really work out all that great for either of them so I guess they are far more cautious now.

I agree they should put more effort in, but I doubt they give that much of a crap about us enthusiasts, most of whom can't afford them anyway. They are concerned firstly and foremostly with profit like any other large car manufacturer.

[fittster]

Is the DBS a limited edition DB9 or a replacement for the Vanquish?

[Dr S]

They really learned from Porsche in terms of marketing: Take an existing car, tune some details and - voilà - you have a new model... Wait till they offer the new DBSR which will be a DB9 with sunroof...

[dinkel]

A good moment, just as they are for sale . . .

[MidnightDriver]

AdvocatusDiaboli said:

Everything Aston and Porsche produce looks the same... They need try something new. The Vantage, DBS and DB9 all look almost identical... Just the scale and profile differs to my eye.

As for Porsche... even there new "planned" 928 revival looks like a 911 in the front!

Dr Bez used to work for porsche, so that might explain their model ranges dont have differentation between them in terms of design,hes using the same market stratgey ,Dr bez is tryin to sell the "brand" rather then the models.

[aston67]

can't argue with a winning strategy...

[heelantoe]

fittster said:

Is the DBS a limited edition DB9 or a replacement for the Vanquish?

It's a limited run of 300 cars, so won't be a replacment for the Vanquish.

[sidesauce]

aston67 said:

can't argue with a winning strategy...

[:J:]

AdvocatusDiaboli said:

r988 said:

But then they dont have to pay for multiple designs.

Maybe so - but surely that is not what an enthusiast gives a toss about! They should take a leaf out of Ferrari's or Lambo's book... all the cars look different and are differnt animals - afterall, Aston's cars cost as much!

Yeah that's right, the 360 and the 430 don't look the same at all !!

In fact, they looked so alike when finished, they had to put tacky wing mirrors on the 430 so you could tell which one you were looking at when you saw it head on

Aston are releasing a variant of the same model, not proclaimed it is a new model at all. And yet we have a thread with people telling us a DB9 variant looks like a DB9 ?!?!?! Am I missing the point ?

With this in mind, and also from your comments, I presume you were in the Ferrari forum having a pop at them off for releasing the 360 Stradale ? DB9 - DBS, 360 - 360 Stradale, 430 - 430 Stradale, and so on and so forth.......

Edited by :J: on Saturday 2nd September 13:01

[potatoboy666]

:J: said:

Yeah that's right, the 360 and the 430 don't look the same at all !!

Well, they do look similar, but come on they're not as similar as most of the stuff Aston is doing at the moment, between this and the DB9 unless you saw them together I think you couldn't tell much of a difference.

[:J:]

potatoboy666 said:

:J: said:

Yeah that's right, the 360 and the 430 don't look the same at all !!

Well, they do look similar, but come on they're not as similar as most of the stuff Aston is doing at the moment, between this and the DB9 unless you saw them together I think you couldn't tell much of a difference.

I would say the looking directly at the front of the 360 and 430, they look nigh on the same. That must be why they put the mirrors on, as I can think of no other reason Anyway, I digress.

OF COURSE DBS and DB9 LOOK THE SAME.................THEY ARE THE SAME MODEL

Let's clear it up :

1/ Mr Bond calls, "can you make your DB9 look more special for my new film please".
2/ Aston, "of course we can".
3/ Aston "here is your new car Mr Bond".
4/ Multiple calls from customers to Aston "can we please buy that car".
5/ Aston (get's calculator out), "yes you can".
6/ Aston make cars for customers that showed interest.
7/ Loads of people on Pistonheads start crying that it looks the same as the DB9(duh!), and that Aston need to change the shape of the car, and they have no imagination, and so on and on........

Now do you see why it is sooooo boring when people put their 'look-a-like' opinions up ?

Edited by :J: on Sunday 3rd September 10:56

Edited by :J: on Sunday 3rd September 10:56

[AdvocatusDiaboli]

:J: said:

AdvocatusDiaboli said:

r988 said:

But then they dont have to pay for multiple designs.

Maybe so - but surely that is not what an enthusiast gives a toss about! They should take a leaf out of Ferrari's or Lambo's book... all the cars look different and are differnt animals - afterall, Aston's cars cost as much!

Yeah that's right, the 360 and the 430 don't look the same at all !!

In fact, they looked so alike when finished, they had to put tacky wing mirrors on the 430 so you could tell which one you were looking at when you saw it head on

Aston are releasing a variant of the same model, not proclaimed it is a new model at all. And yet we have a thread with people telling us a DB9 variant looks like a DB9 ?!?!?! Am I missing the point ?

With this in mind, and also from your comments, I presume you were in the Ferrari forum having a pop at them off for releasing the 360 Stradale ? DB9 - DBS, 360 - 360 Stradale, 430 - 430 Stradale, and so on and so forth.......

Edited by :J: on Saturday 2nd September 13:01

J:, the 360 and 430 are not being produced concurrently. The Vantage, DB9 and DBS are. There is a distinction to be drawn here, which other forum members have understood. Even if they were being produced alongside each other, Ferrari would still have at least two other cars that looked different. Returning to the facts as they stand, the current range produced by Ferrari and Lambo, as I have mentioned above, do not look alike, while the Aston Martin range clearly does.

Your comments about the 360/430 and their CS versions do no quite fit either. Allow me to make it clearer. The DBS, DB9 and Vantage are all completely DIFFERENT models. As you are doubtless aware, the 360/430 CS ranges are simply variants of the base models with added focus on track use.

Now that I have spelt things out for you, do have another "pop at" things...

Edited by AdvocatusDiaboli on Sunday 3rd September 20:39

[stanwan]

AdvocatusDiaboli said:

:J: said:

AdvocatusDiaboli said:

r988 said:

But then they dont have to pay for multiple designs.

Maybe so - but surely that is not what an enthusiast gives a toss about! They should take a leaf out of Ferrari's or Lambo's book... all the cars look different and are differnt animals - afterall, Aston's cars cost as much!

Yeah that's right, the 360 and the 430 don't look the same at all !!

In fact, they looked so alike when finished, they had to put tacky wing mirrors on the 430 so you could tell which one you were looking at when you saw it head on

Aston are releasing a variant of the same model, not proclaimed it is a new model at all. And yet we have a thread with people telling us a DB9 variant looks like a DB9 ?!?!?! Am I missing the point ?

With this in mind, and also from your comments, I presume you were in the Ferrari forum having a pop at them off for releasing the 360 Stradale ? DB9 - DBS, 360 - 360 Stradale, 430 - 430 Stradale, and so on and so forth.......

Edited by :J: on Saturday 2nd September 13:01

J:, the 360 and 430 are not being produced concurrently. The Vantage, DB9 and DBS are. There is a distinction to be drawn here, which other forum members have understood. Even if they were being produced alongside each other, Ferrari would still have at least two other cars that looked different. Returning to the facts as they stand, the current range produced by Ferrari and Lambo, as I have mentioned above, do not look alike, while the Aston Martin range clearly does.

Your comments about the 360/430 and their CS versions do no quite fit either. Allow me to make it clearer. The DBS, DB9 and Vantage are all completely DIFFERENT models. As you are doubtless aware, the 360/430 CS ranges are simply variants of the base models with added focus on track use.

Now that I have spelt things out for you, I look forward to your next "pop off"...

Edited by AdvocatusDiaboli on Sunday 3rd September 13:44

Unless I am mistaken the DBS and DB9 appear to share the same chassis, and engine, except for a few power boosting engine mods (from the vanquish?) and some beefed-up bodywork. It would therefore be reasonable to presume that this car is far from a distinct model line, and is in fact, a limited-run db9 on steroids.