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[Fotos oficiais) - Aston Martin Lagonda

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Aston Martin revives Lagonda brand with new super saloon | Autocar

Aston Martin has resurrected its Lagonda nameplate for a small production run of limited-edition super saloons.

The new Aston Martin Lagonda, which is set to arrive in 2015, will be made available to customers on an invitation-only basis.

Styling cues come from the original Lagonda, which was designed by William Towns and launched in 1976.

Underpinning the new car is the company's VH architecture, which is used throughout its current line-up.

Official technical details have yet to be released but it is understood that the production models, like the prototype seen earlier this year, use the 5.9-litre V12 from the Rapide S.

In the Rapide, the naturally aspirated V12 produces 550bhp and 457lb ft, granting a 0-62mph time of less than 5.0sec and a top speed of 190mph.

Power will be sent to the rear wheels, most likely via a six-speed ZF automatic transmission.

Sales are by invitation only and official pricing has not been released, withAston Martin simply stating that "it will be commensurate with the car's exclusivity, quality and luxurious nature".

The Lagonda will also only be be offered in the Middle East due to a "specific market demand".

Aston Martin Design Director Marek Reichman said: "The new model, like its exclusive siblings the One-77 and V12 Zagato, has been created as a piece of exceptional automotive art.

"It has been designed and developed entirely in keeping with the spirit and ethos of previous Lagonda super saloons – notably the William Towns Lagonda – and as a tribute to this car it proudly bears the Lagonda nameplate."

At its 1976 launch the Lagonda was notable for, among other things, its use of advanced technology – including LED display panels.
The Aston Martin Lagonda, like its forebear, also makes use of modern innovations. For example, it utilises carbonfibre for its exterior panelling.

Each Lagonda will be hand built at Aston Martin's plant in Gaydon, in a building that was previously dedicated to construction of the One-77supercar.

The new Aston Martin Lagonda follows recent bespoke projects including the £500,000 Aston Martin CC100 Speedster, production versions of which were built by the 'Q by Aston Martin' division.

Launched in 2013, the Q division is responsible for offering customers the ability to customise existing models to their own specifications, or to commission entirely bespoke cars.

An Aston Martin spokesperson had previously said that the Lagonda was part of a series of coach-built models produced by the Q division.
The company also recently secured approximately £100 million in fresh funding, which may go towards the mooted Aston Martin Lagonda SUV.

This all-new model has recently been brought back into the limelight following Aston's ongoing discussions and parts sharing deal withMercedes-Benz.

Earlier in the year Aston Martin had trademarked an updated version of the Lagonda emblem, hinting at the imminent return of the nameplate.
The company says that the launch of the new saloon revives the Lagonda ethos of "the finest of fast cars".
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[Teste] - Aston Martin Vanquish MY2015 - Autocar

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A solid and significant step in the right direction, but still a flawed package that relies on charm more than raw ability
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What is it?

There is more to this new model year Aston Martin Vanquish than a new transmission, but if just looking at what it does for the car on paper gives an idea of the improvements it brings, out there in the real world the change is more dramatic still.

The reason Aston Martin appears to have been so far behind the curve fitting the now ubiquitous ZF eight-speed automatic gearbox to the Vanquish (and indeed the Rapide S) is that until now none has been available for a transaxle application. But now Aston Martin has designed its own casing into which ZF’s tried and trusted internals are fitted.

So just take a look at the numbers. With the old gearbox the Vanquish was good for just 183mph. Now it’s got another couple of ratios and can accelerate until it runs out of puff, it’ll do 201mph.

Meanwhile the closeness of the lower ratios and the extra speed of response have carved 0.3sec from the 0-62mph time. This may not sound like much, but down here in exotic world below 4sec, it matters.

The gearbox will also make owners feel slightly less like ecological master criminals. It’ll still only do 22.1mpg, but that’s a better than 10 per cent improvement over the 19.6mpg of old, as is the reduction in CO2 emissions to under 300g/km.

None of this is going to make your company car tax bill less painful to open, but the additional range it provides will be more than usually welcome given the car’s long distance aspirations and inadequate 78-litre fuel tank.

Aston Martin has also gone to work on the suspension, raising the front spring rates by 15 per cent and those at the rear by 35 per cent, a move that comes coupled with a thicker rear roll bar and new toe and camber settings.
Bespoke new Pirelli P Zero rubber mounted on lighter alloy wheels that remove a total of 7kg of unsprung weight from the Aston complete the picture.

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What is it like?

In the past I have found the Vanquish a confusing, not to say confused car.

While the wondrous V12 Vantage S is a sports car down to its tyres and the DB9 a classic GT, the role of the Vanquish has always seemed less distinct. It is clearly the predominantly sporting car any Aston flagship should be.

It’s still nowhere near as sharp as the Vantage and the new gearshifts are more swift than savage, but the Vanquish is a car with a better power to weight ratio than a Porsche 911 GT3 and for the first time in its life, it feels it. Most of the time and quite unlike the previous Vanquish, it feels like the torque converter is locked so there is little or no mush in the system: you prod the pedal and now it responds in kind.

Even so, its pace is not going to frighten a Lamborghini Aventador, let alone the Ferrari F12. Aston’s flagship’s will do thrilling all day long, but if you want to go past that point where exhilaration turns to wide-eyed, white-knuckled fear, you’ll need an Italian or just a rather cheaper, more practicalPorsche 911 Turbo S.

But if you are more interested in how a car feels than how fast it is from point to point, the Vanquish has more to commend it that ever. Its steering is the most lucid in its class and its chassis probably now the best balanced. Use one to exploit the other and there’s rare and sophisticated pleasure to be had here.

The price paid is ride quality. I’d tolerate some additional secondary interference as price worth paying for its additional agility, but the primary body movements over humps and dips are just disappointing.

On admittedly tough roads in the Scottish Highlands, the Vanquish felt under-damped and like it would lack the poise of its best rivals.

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Should I buy one?

This is a much-improved car, albeit one that continues to trade heavily on Aston Martin’s historical strengths of charm and tradition rather than state-of-the-art ability.

True, the gearbox has removed the car’s single biggest failing but it would be more unkind than inaccurate to observe all it has really done is allow the Vanquish to become the car it should have been from the moment it was launched.

But when that car is as indulgent, satisfying and emotionally appealing as this one now is, such earlier and now irrelevant transgressions are easily overlooked.

Aston Martin Vanquish

Price £192,995; 0-62mph 3.8sec; Top speed 201mph; Economy22.1mpg (combined); CO2 298g/km; Kerb weight 1739kg; Engine V12, 5935cc, petrol; Installation longitudinal, front, RWD; Power 568bhp at 6650rpm; Torque 465lb ft at 5500rpm; Gearbox 8-speed automatic
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[Teste] - Aston Martin Rapide S MY2015 - Autocar

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Gearbox and suspension modifications make for a far sharper, more sporting Rapide, which is broadly if not entirely good news
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What is it?

If you judged it by looks alone, you’d wonder why on earth we were giving so much space to the revamped Aston Martin Rapide S.
There are some new colours inside and out and that’s about it. But as with the revised Aston Martin Vanquish, the real story is beneath the skin, where the Rapide has been subtly but significantly altered in every important area.

The most obvious change is the adoption of the same eight-speed ZF automatic gearbox used by the Vanquish; and just in case you presumed it follows naturally the same transmission will be used in the DB9, think again.

For as long as it lasts, which we don’t believe will be very long, Aston’s oldest campaigner soldiers on with the even older six-speed box with which it was born well over a decade ago.

The new gearbox releases the performance hitherto pent up in the Rapide’s svelte shape, knocking half a second off the 0-62mph time and raising top speed from 190mph to genuinely impressive 203bhp.

How has a gearbox been able to do this? Its speed of response and closer ratios account for the acceleration and the fact Aston no longer has to restrict top speed to prevent the gearbox from hitting the limiter in top gear explains the improved terminal velocity.

But that’s just the start. To cope with the additional top speed the front brakes have swelled so that now mighty 400mm rotors sit behind those attractive new wheels.

The engine has the latest Bosch management which would not have been able to talk to the old gearbox and it’s responsible not just for another couple of horsepower and a handful extra lb ft on the torque readout, but far quicker throttle response too.

And to cap it all, there’s a new suspension strategy, including new Bilstein springs, new bushings and a broadening of the adaptive damper range response between normal and sport. So you can see just how much work has gone on beneath an almost unchanged surface.

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What is it like?

In performance terms the Rapide S feels set free, as if it’s spent its life to date manacled to a cast iron ball and chain.
Forget the additional top speed, for the facility is meaningless to all other than the Aston Martin marketing department. You won’t be able to feel the tiny increases in power and torque either, not in a car weighing 1990kg.

What you will notice, quite possibly the first moment you squeeze the throttle, is the car’s response. The new transmission takes up the slack like the next best thing to a DSG, discarding the sloth of the old box to the history books. The changes are not just smooth, but swift and they keep coming as the Rapide cycles through its additional ratios.

At least as obvious when you drive are the modifications to the chassis, though these meet with more mixed success. There’s no question the Rapide now feels more taut and better controlled than before.

Indeed in the kind of open, sweeping corners it likes best, it’s hard to reconcile such grip and poise with the near two tonne four-door car that’s providing them. But a price has been paid in ride quality, with the car feeling just a little less settled over ripples and bumps than before.

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Should I buy one?

The Rapide S may look like the sensible Aston, the one you’d buy more with your head than heart, but despite its long wheelbase and extra doors, it’s still a merely marginal four seater and as such a primarily emotional buy.

The new gearbox plays to those emotions, giving the car the edge it has always lacked, and backed by an undoubted new level of driver appeal thanks to the chassis modifications.

The compromise in ride quality is a shame but for a car that’s now quite a bit more Aston Martin and only a little less Rapide, that would seem a price worth paying.

Aston Martin Rapide S

Price £147,950; 0-62mph 4.2sec; Top speed 203mph; Economy21.9mpg (combined); CO2 300g/km; Kerb weight 1990kg; Engine 12 cyls, 5935cc, petrol; Power 552bhp at 6650rpm; Torque 465lb ft at 5500rpm; Gearbox 8-speed automatic
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Retirado do site da Aston Martin:

TOUCHTRONIC III - OUR MOST ADVANCED TRANSMISSION

Vanquish now includes the most advanced gearbox ever fitted to an Aston Martin. Our engineers worked meticulously with technical partner ZF to deliver the world’s first transaxle eight-speed transmission – Aston Martin Touchtronic III.

Light, efficient, flexible and highly intuitive this cutting-edge transmission means Vanquish sets a stunning new benchmark in driver involvement and control.
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Esta caixa está agora disponivel no Vanquish e Rapide S.
 
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