Jay Leno Drives Aston Martin CC100 Concept; Interviews CEO Ulrich Bez

No matter what kind of automotive enthusiast you picture yourself to be, there’s really no argument against the Aston Martin CC100, a fully-functional concept with a sexy 1959 DBR1-inspired body done in carbon fiber, sitting atop a Vantage platform and getting its power from the usual company V12.

It looks very stylish (and stylized), having plenty of historic significance while being capable to go just about as fast as the styling will have you believe it can – Jay Leno likes it too, after having experienced it and having it explained by the company CEO, Ulrich Bez.

Jay is impressed that Aston is able to make this car the way it does – it’s not just a concept for parading at events and looking pretty for pictures, but a fully-fledged (albeit horribly expensive) standalone and two-off model that reportedly costs around €580,000 / £500,000.

The insight from Mr. Bez adds more context to the car, after he goes on to explain that the company, despite now being 100 years old, has not completely lost touch with how things used to be done in the past, and their minute size compared to the other automotive giants allows them to make cars like this and not suffer terrible financial punishment as a result.

Check out the video after the jump.

By Andrei Nedelea

VIDEO

Man Explains Why he Bought and Loves his Aston Martin Rapide

The day cars will no longer be a source of joy for their passionate owners will be the day on which we will know that the world is nearing the end… It’s not the most encouraging of prospects, and while there is a sense that the day is drawing ever closer given the direction the industry is going in, it’s not here yet; if cool cars continue to be made, we will be able to keep it at bay, and save the world.

We had a look at this owner spotlight video by AutoTrader UK that focuses on Cliff Graham, from Southport in the UK, and his prized silver four-door Aston Martin Rapide. He is so invested in his words that his presentation of why he bought his car, how he uses it and why he loves it makes perfect sense, even if the Rapide wouldn’t necessarily be everybody’s first choice in its price bracket.

After all, aside from looking and sounding pretty cool, it’s flawed in so many ways as a practical, usable car that it can’t be recommended based on logic alone. But then again, if logic and reason were the reasons behind why people bought Astons in the first place, the company would have gone out of business long ago, because they are lagging behind the pack from a technical and technological standpoint – good thing AMG came along to sort one of their problems…

Where they win points back is through the sentiments that they stir up inside their owners, a phenomenon best described by the video discussed here. Check it out after the virtual jump.

By Andrei Nedelea

VIDEO

Well, This is Embarrassing: Aston Martin One-77 has the Hiccups…

It's never a pleasant experience should your vehicle stall on a heavily trafficked public road with a lot of people watching, but we can't help but think that it has to be worse when it occurs to a €1.1+ million (US$1.3 million) Aston Martin One-77 that's capable of reaching a top speed of about 220mph (355 km/h).
And that is exactly what happened to one of the 77 owners of the exclusive Aston Martin model, not once, but more than a couple of times somewhere in France.
For the record, the One-77's 750bhp 7.3-liter V12 powerplant is linked to a six-speed automated manual gearbox with column-mounted paddles. Hop over the jump to check out the video.