One of the cars of the hour is definitely the new Aston Martin V12 Zagato, a new coupe from the British carmaker that will surely make heads turn when it will finally enter the market, and here are another four official images picturing it in all of its splendor. The car will be officially introduced to the world at the imminent Kuwait Concours d’ Elegance (February 15-18) and is expected to enter the market by the end of the current year, although only 150 units will be produced.

“We are excited to show the new V12 Zagato for the first time in production form at the Kuwait Concours d’Elegance - said Aston Martin’s CEO, Mr. Ulrich Bez - Over 50 years since the introduction of the iconic DB4GT Zagato, Aston Martin and Zagato have collaborated to create this modern interpretation which remains true to the original focus of craftsmanship, performance and exclusivity.”

Aston Martin has released more official pictures of the definitive version of their V12 Zagato, which is due to enter the market by the end of this year. This new hand-built coupe, which was initially introduced as a concept car at the Concorso d’Eleganza in Villa D’Este, Italy, in May 2011, has already taken part at the Nurburgring 24 hours and will hit the showrooms with a price tag of 405.000 £ (roughly 485.000 €). The actual launch of the production model will be staged next week at the Kuwait’s Concours d’Elegance, while the actual production of the scheduled 150 units will begin in September.

The Aston Martin V12 Zagato was born to celebrate the 50 years of collaboration between Aston Martin and renowned Italian designer Zagato, and is the brainchild of Aston Martin’s main designer Marek Reichmann, who stresses out the fact that the model is pretty different from the other Astons: it has the ‘double hump’ on the roof (one of Zagato’s trademark features) and a convex front grille that - in the words of Mr.Reichmann himself - ‘makes it look like it is wearing a shirt that’s just too tight to hide its muscles‘.

The Aston Martin V12 Zagato is powered by the same 5.9-litre V12 engine equipping the V12 Vantage, which is credited with an output of 517 hp and 570 Nm of peak torque at 5,750 rpm. This unit is coupled with a 6-speed manual gearbox that uses a transaxle configuration to aid weight distribution. The V12 Zagato boasts a 0-100 km/h (62mph) sprint time of 4.2 seconds, with a top speed of 306 km/h (190 mph). To find out more about the model, you can check the official press release announcing its debut in Kuwait right after the jump.

View the full Aston Martin V12 Zagato photo gallery

via | Autocar

ASTON MARTIN’S FIRST PRODUCTION V12 ZAGATO TO DEBUT AT KUWAIT CONCOURS D’ELEGANCE

Gaydon (27 January 2012 ) — Aston Martin will debut the first production V12 Zagato at the Kuwait Concours d’ Elegance on 15-18 February.

The Kuwait Concours d’Elegance, in its third successive year, is the only event of its type in the Middle East and plays host to some of the world’s finest automotive art from over 19 countries. Having gone from strength to strength in the past two years, this event has become the earliest of its type in what is considered by car connoisseurs as ‘the season’.

At the heart of such an established and important market for Aston Martin, the Kuwait Concours d’Elegance this year is supported by Premier International Motors Group, Aston Martin’s dealer partner in Kuwait.

Dr Ulrich Bez, CEO of Aston Martin said “We are excited to show the new V12 Zagato for the first time in production form at the Kuwait Concours d’Elegance. Over 50 years since the introduction of the iconic DB4GT Zagato, Aston Martin and Zagato have collaborated to create this modern interpretation which remains true to the original focus of craftsmanship, performance and exclusivity.”

The V12 Zagato, being built in strictly limited numbers of up to 150 cars, is due for first customer deliveries in late 2012. Carrying on the partnership between Aston Martin and Zagato that started over 50 years ago with the DB4 GT Zagato, the V12 Zagato, hand assembled at the company’s global headquarters in Gaydon, England, is based on the highly acclaimed V12 Vantage and features a beautiful hand-crafted aluminium and carbon fibre body along with a bespoke interior. Combining traditional craftsmanship and high technology, the V12 Zagato also boasts Aston Martin’s most dynamic bonded aluminium platform and the power of the company’s acclaimed 6.0-litre V12 engine producing 510 bhp (380 kW / 517 PS), and 570 Nm (420 lb ft) of torque.

Launched successfully, in prototype form, in late May 2011 at the Villa D’Este Concours on Lake Como, Italy, the V12 Zagato saw off tough competition to be awarded the coveted Design Award for the concept and prototypes class. Just a week later, the V12 Zagato made its racing debut at the at the historic Nürburgring racetrack before the two prototypes were entered into the gruelling Nürburgring 24 Hour race - both taking the chequered flag to maintain the marque’s 100% finish record in the race.

Being judged within the Kuwait Concours d’Elegance is a number of rare and historic Aston Martins from private owners across the world. One such car is an original DB4GT Zagato, one of the finest examples of the first partnership between Aston Martin and Zagato.

The spiritual inspiration for the contemporary V12 Zagato, the DB4GT Zagato came to fruition just over 50 years ago when Aston Martin sought to remove even more weight from the very special DB4GT. In the search of an ever lighter and higher performance version, Aston Martin approached Zagato, a company renowned for such projects. Managing Director, Elio Zagato and Technical Director Gianni Zagato along with a talented team managed to draft the main designs of the DB4GT Zagato in just one week. Of the original 19 DB4GT Zagato built, all still survive and are held in pride of place within some of the world’s greatest car collections.

Following extremely positive initial customer reaction, the V12 Zagato is currently being offered for sale at £330,000 GBP (excluding local taxes).

Aston Martin has released new pictures and technical details about the V12 Zagato, the car that is supposed to revive elegance, exclusivity and sporty attitude of the glorious Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato, which was unveiled at the 1960 London Motor Show and is now an extremely expensive collector’s item. As the names suggest, both models have been designed by renowned Italian styling house Zagato.

The Aston Martin V12 Zagato is meant to be a modern rendition of that masterpiece: it comes with an aluminum body-shell and bodywork panels made of the same material as well as some carbon fiber, all of which hand-crafted. The car measures 4,385 mm in length, 1,865 mm in width, and 1,250 mm in height, with a wheel base of 2,600 mm, front track of 1,570 mm and rear track of 1,575 mm. The V12 Zagato weighs in at 1,680 kg and uses independent double wishbone suspension on both axles.

Under the bonnet pulses a feisty 6.0-litre V12 engine delivering 517 hp and 570 Nm of peak torque, capable of pushing the car from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 4.2 seconds, with a top speed of 305 km/h (190 mph). The 6-speed manual gearbox is coupled with a limited slip transmission, while average fuel consumption is rated at 24.3 l/100 km in urban traffic and at 16.4 l/100 km on motorways. Braking comes from a couple of 398 mm carbon-ceramic discs at the front and 360 mm discs, mated to 6- and 4-piston calipers respectively.

Aston Martin releases a new one-minute-and-a-half long video commercial featuring a Virage strolling around some nice roads in Northern Italy. The clip is not advertising any specific model, it is rather an attempt to make the brand more appealing to the female audience, and actually the whole thing is quite corny indeed. Nonetheless, we get to see the Vintage driving through some breathtaking landscapes and.. well, it might work after all.

Aston Martin CEO Ulrich Bez has confirmed in an interview to GT Spirit that a new Aston Martin V12 Vantage Roadster will eventually be introduced in 2012. Apparently, the new model will draw inspiration from both V8 Vantage Roadster and V12 Vantage Coupe (pictured), and should come with a 6.0-litre V12 unit producing 510 hp and 570 Nm of maximum torque, delivering a top speed of 305 km/h (190 mph) and 0-100 km/h (62 mph) sprint time of 4.2 seconds.

The new Aston Martin V12 Vantage Roadster could make its first appearance as soon as next March at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show. We will be waiting for some confirmation on the subject.

A 1964 Aston Martin DB5 formerly owned by late Beatles guitarist George Harrison was sold for a staggering 350,000 £ (about 410,000 € - 550,000 $) at a recent Coys True Greats auction in London, England. Coys Managing Director Chris Routledge commented: “There was a battle royal for this car which went for some 150,000 £ over its estimate.” Funnily enough, the car ended up in the hands of a Beatles fan from Houston, Texas, who will use it to raise money for ‘Christian charities’ while Harrison - who died of lung cancer in 2001 - was a Buddhist for most of his life. But we are pretty sure he would approve.

During the same event, a Cord 810 Phaeton once been owned by Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page was sold for 80,000 £, a Mercedes Benz 300 SL Roadster found in a garage in Edinburgh for over 20 years was sold for 343,000 £ (£100,000 higher than estimated) and a Mercedes Benz 540 K that had once been owned by Bernie Ecclestone (estimated at £500,000) was sold for 864,000 £.

via | 4WheelsNews

Dutch company HBH is currently working on a mid-engine version of Aston Martin V12 Vantage - which is a front mounted engine car - and website ClassicDriver has uploaded a few CGI images of the model. The name of the project is Bulldog GT, a reference to the original 1980 Aston Martin Bulldog, a mid-engine one-off that never made it into production. As you can see, the car maintains the typical signature styling of the British brand, even though a lot of work has been done to adapt it to the new mechanical configuration.

Apparently, the frame of the car is not going to be an original piece, a move that will make it easier for the model to pass crash test and homologation exams. However, HBH is still refining the car’s aerodynamics and this may require some tweaking work on the frame later on. According to Aston Martin’s tradition, there won’t be carbon fibre fairings as all parts will be made of hand-beaten aluminum. The 6.0 V12 unit will receive two superchargers that would boost its output up to 675 hp and 750 Nm of peak torque, while the transmission will be a 6-speed manual transaxle gearbox with limited-slip differential. The jaw-dropping Bulldog GT is provisionally scheduled for early 2013.

We’ve already seen the Aston Martin V12 Zagato at the Villa d’Este and on the track at the Nurburgring, but this is the first time it has appeared at an international auto show - and so here we have the V12 Zagato in the flesh in our live pics from Frankfurt. If you thought it was going to be more gorgeous in person than in pics, you were right. There’s not much more to add really - we still like the original production pic that Aston released with the V12 Zagato in that very smooth grey, but we won’t say no to the red in these 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show pics, too.

Man, is it hot in here! This is the first official pic of the new Aston Martin V12 Zagato roadgoing machine and it is beautiful - just what you’d expect but better of Aston style interpreted by the Italian coachbuilder.

The V12 Zagato model will go into production mid-2012 for a run of 150 units. It will be built basically by hand using aluminium and carbonfibre, and will be equipped with the six-litre V12 with 510 hp. It is a fitting thing to celebrate 50 years of Aston Martin-Zagato collaboration first started with the DB4 GT Zagato.

We’ve seen the V12 Zagato before at the 2012 Concours d’Elegance at Villa d’Este where it was presented, and then on the track at the 24 hours Nurburgring, but the production version at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show should be a highlight next month all the same. Apparently the Frankfurt showcar will actually be one of the Nurburgring vehicles in production guise to show customers what their 400,000-euro vehicle is going to look like.

Aston Martin Racing will be back to business next year with this V12 Vantage GT3 racer. It marks a new vehicle for Aston’s customer racing efforts as the new V12 Vantage in GT3 spec will substitute the previous DBRS9 racer. The Vantage GT3 will use a modified version of the six-lite V12 production Aston engine for racing.

The dry-sumped engine is expected to reach about 600 hp and 700 Nm of torque, and has been repositioned to give the car better balance. It will come with a six-speed sequential transmission with paddle shift and new aerodynamics have been studied for the Vantage to give it better track performance.

More racing features of the new Aston GT3 include the lower engine position on the Vantage and a shorter wheelbase. The V12 Vantage GT3 will also get racing ABS and traction control. The car will undergo endurance testing in October and will be ready for deliveries 2012, with prices starting from £298,000 (approx. €340,000).

The modern day take on the Aston Martin-Zagato relationship in the form of the Aston Martin V12 Vantage Zagato is far from just a marketing manoeuvre, as we learn in this video from Autocar. The test drive of the Zagato Vantage took place at the Aston Martin test facilities at Gaydon on one of the models that participated in the 24 hours Nurburgring endurance race.

The production models will have some changes made to them and will probably be a lot quieter. That’s a good thing as we wouldn’t want to feel like we were permanently in a race car, but as Jamie Corstorphine says, just poddling around in the V12 Zagato racer makes the most incredibly exhilirating engine noise.

The test drive doesn’t tell us much about what a production Aston V12 Zagato might be like but as the test points out - we’ve been waiting for a fresh-faced Aston for a while now, and with plenty of sports coupé performance, this kind of model is right up Aston’s alley. The video is so worth the watching just to get inside the race car - check it out above.

Well! In this video we get taken from relaxing mediterranean sunlight scenes to the Aston Martin One-77 blasting around some hilly roads. While an absolutely gorgeous car that is virtually hand-built and made-to-order, it’s luxury isn’t just about Aston Martin beauty.

We get to hear plenty of the 7.3-litre engine and its 700 hp in the video, as well as see just how that spoiler might work if we were lucky to own this one-million euro piece of kit. That close-up of the spoiler shows us that while the One-77 is in classic Aston Martin style, there are plenty of new, small details that should appear on future Astons, starting with the next generation DB9.