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2012 Pebble Beach Concept Car Lawn offers a tutorial in cars to come

The Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance is a showcase for some of the world's most exquisite vintage vehicles, but if newer metal is more your speed, the Concept Car Lawn is the place to be.
This year saw models from Bugatti, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, McLaren and Bentley as well as SRT, Hennessey, Infiniti and Lexus among others. The ultimate sampler platter of exotic and concept vehicles saw the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse mingle with the Lamborghini Urus Concept and the mighty Hennessey Venom GT, though we found ourselves particularly smitten with the BMW Zagato Roadster and the Aston Martin Vanquish.
Not that we could go wrong anywhere we looked. The 2013 Bentley Continental GT Speed seemed perfectly content parked on the manicured putting green, as did the McLaren MP4-12C Spider. Get cozy with the full gallery below to see the smattering of metal on the lawn.

Aston Martin signs Letter of Intent for technical partnership with AMG

A little over two months ago came reports that Daimler and Aston Martin were in talks, again, about "supply and technical-cooperation agreements." The next step has been taken with Aston Martin announcing that it has signed a Letter of Intent that looks "towards a technical partnership" with Mercedes-AMG GmbH, and the two companies aiming to have definitive agreements done by year's end.
While it will get to use certain electric and electronic components from AMG, the true golden egg for the maker of the Vanquish will be the ability to develop a new line of "bespoke V8 powertrains" that will be fitted to "a new generation of models." In return for opening up the larder, Daimler will get a non-voting stake of up to five percent of Aston Martin.
Nothing else is being said about the tie-up for the moment, but there's a press release below with a few more details.

2014 Aston Martin Vanquish Volante

Recently, a fellow editor at AOL asked me to choose "the most beautiful car on the road" for a story he was preparing. I was allowed to choose any vehicle, at any price, as long as it was a model currently in production and offered for sale. The well-oiled gears in my head only needed to turn about half a revolution before I had an answer: The 2014 Aston Martin Vanquish Volante. My decision was simple and my logic sound, because the two-seat Volante is jaw-droppingly gorgeous – whether in pictures or in person. Its long, slender chassis is covered in an artfully sculpted carbon-fiber skin that reeks of sexiness, power and exclusivity. In my mind, there's nothing on the road today with such exquisite lines. But a seductive appearance is meaningless if there's no substance beneath the skin. To allay my concerns, Aston Martin invited me to Palm Springs to spend a couple of days with the car. The region's desert topography promised nice weather and spectacular drive opportunities – that is, if I could stop staring and climb behind its wheel. The insulated triple-layer cloth on the Aston will expose the sky in about 14 seconds. Aston Martin launched its all-new 2014 Vanquish Volante at the last August's Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in Monterey as the successor to its DBS Volante. This two-seater is physically and mechanically identical to the Vanquish coupe, but the fixed carbon-fiber roof of the coupe has been replaced with a power-operated retractable soft top for open-air motoring. Before you question employing a soft folding roof on a $300,000 vehicle, let me remind you that such designs actually offer major advantages over today's folding hardtops. They are invariably lighter, far less complex, and their much more compact nature makes them easier to package without compromising a car's aesthetics. When engineered and executed properly, as is the case with the Volante, few will miss solid panels. The insulated triple-layer cloth on the Aston will expose the sky in about 14 seconds at the push of a switch, and it will rise or retreat at speeds up to 30 mph. Unlike its previous open-air executions, this is the first time that Aston Martin has built a convertible with a full-height windscreen, which means the front glass runs all the way up to the fabric roof for a much cleaner transition. The Volante, like all of its Aston Martin siblings, shares the automaker's Generation 4 VH platform, which is company-speak for an all-aluminum monocoque chassis.