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Aston Martin names new regional chief for the Americas

Aston Martin has named a new president for the Americas region. Starting October 26, the role will fall to Laura Schwab, who joins Aston from rival Jaguar Land Rover. The Louisville, KY native is a graduate of the law school at the University of Kentucky. She worked in the technology sector in Southern California before embarking on a career in the automotive industry, working for JLR in a variety of marketing and communications posts. She has served for the past year and a half as JLR's marketing director, having previously worked in Land Rover's North American office in a variety of capacities. In her new job, Schwab will be responsible for all of Aston Martin's activities in the Americas, including the United States, Canada, Mexico, and South America. She'll be working out of the company's regional headquarters in Irvine, CA, reporting to directly global sales director Christian Marti. Pictured above is the DB10 created for the latest James Bond movie, on display in Monterey this summer. "Laura is an excellent addition to the Aston Martin team. Throughout her career in the automotive business, Laura has demonstrated an ability to implement marketing and retail programs to drive growth," said Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer in the statement below. "As we embark upon delivery of our six-year 'Second Century Plan' the Americas region offers a considerable opportunity and I look forward to Laura applying her skills to help us grow awareness of the Aston Martin brand in this region." Related Video: ASTON MARTIN APPOINTS LAURA SCHWAB AS NEW AMERICAS REGIONAL PRESIDENT 2 October 2015, Gaydon: Aston Martin is pleased to announce the appointment of Laura Schwab as President for Aston Martin The Americas, reporting to Global Sales Director Christian Marti, effective 26 October. Laura joins Aston Martin from Jaguar Land Rover where she worked most recently as Marketing Director, leading marketing communications, experiential events, sponsorships, product marketing, customer engagement and corporate social responsibility. Based at the company's regional headquarters in Irvine, California, Laura's role as Regional President embraces sales and service, public relations, brand marketing and communications to both Aston Martin's customers and 46 dealers in the region, spanning the United States, Canada, Mexico and South America.

DBX goes black tie with Q by Aston Martin

Aston Martin won't begin delivering its new DBX to customers in North America until the latter half of this year. Perhaps as a favor to DBX intenders that haven't placed orders yet, Q by Aston Martin has prepared a bespoke DBX for the Geneva Motor Show that presents a sliver of the creative possibilities unlocked by working with Q. The near infinite menu of choices has been broken down into two groups, Q by Aston Martin Commission and Q by Aston Martin Collection. Collection fits a range of predesigned accessories like carbon fiber paddle shifters or hood vent louvers for the DBS Superleggera. The Commission range encompasses all the imagination that a customer's bank account can fund. The Geneva show car wears Satin Xenon Grey paint from the Collection, as well as carbon fiber pieces around the lower exterior, black anodized tread plates and plaques on the sill. The 22-inch gloss black painted wheels come from the Commission department. The grand showcase comes inside the DBX vault. Yards of Obsidian Black Leather come from the SUV's standard options list. Commission stewards designed the satin chrome aluminum trim and jewelry as an entree, all milled from a solid ingot of the shiny stuff and finished with a special diamond pattern. They followed that up with a custom technique for the carbon fiber floating center console, door trim, and luggage floor. Craftsmen laid up 280 layers of carbon fiber, cured it for 12 hours, then put five-axis milling machines to work for 90 hours to create the necessary shapes. The finish on the cabin pieces reflects the strata of the hand-laid layers, while the span protecting the luggage floor comes from a single sheet of herringbone-pattered carbon fiber. Raised metal and rubber welts help protect the load floor finish and prevent cargo sliding to and fro.  The standard DBX starts at $192,986 after destination. A Q by Aston Martin DBX will, naturally, cost a touch more. Related Video:    

Aston Martin confirms 3.0-liter turbocharged V6 for Valhalla

When the Aston Martin Valhalla hits the scene in 2022 (hopefully), it will be powered by an all-new 3.0-liter turbocharged V6 engine that will be fortified and electrified in a hybrid configuration that we don't yet know much about. Interestingly, Aston Martin says the V6's hybrid element will be tuned and sized for each specific vehicle in which it's installed. In the Valhalla, the dry-sump engine will be mounted directly behind the passenger compartment, and its so-called 'hot V' design will allow for relatively compact dimensions. And compact also means lightweight — the automaker says the complete engine weighs less than 440 pounds. Just the fact that the British automaker is investing the engineering effort to produce a new engine is significant. The company hasn't engineered its own in-house powertrain since 1969, when Tadek Marek's 5.3-liter V8 engine found its way under the hood of Aston Martin's aptly named DBS V8. The new 3.0-liter V6 is codenamed TM01 in Marek's honor. With that in mind, we expect this powerplant to serve in various Aston Martin models for a number of years. We look forward to further details in the future, especially the all-important horsepower and torque figures. In the meantime, feel free to peruse the high-resolution image gallery above, where you'll see intricately milled castings along with the engine undergoing dyno testing and running red hot with the lights down low.   Related Video: