2012 Aston Martin Db9 Sport Edition Volante on 2040-cars

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Forza Horizon 3 adds Ford Police Interceptor, Jeep CJ5

We're only a few weeks past the debut of Forza Horizon 3, and already the folks at Turn 10 are introducing the first of six car packs for the open-world driving game. Focused heavily on performance, there are still a few, um, oddballs, including one we're sure Forza's livery customizers will have a blast with. The Smoking Tire Car Pack brings seven new vehicles to FH3, with the Aston Martin Vulcan, Pagani Huayra BC, GTA Spano, Lotus 340R, and BMW M2 repping traditional performance vehicles. As per usual, FH3 renders each car beautifully and promises a solid approximation of real-world performance – even if you do ditch the roads and opt to rampage through the Australian countryside. While performance is good, the Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor and the Jeep CJ5 Renegade bring an off-beat vibe to this particular pack. We aren't certain, but this might be the first time the Police Interceptor appears in a blockbuster driving game. While we expect plenty of police car liveries for the Crown Vic, Forza's rabid community of tuners and customizers are sure to do much more with it. As for the CJ5, is there a better vehicle for tooling about Australia? Yeah, we didn't think so. The Smoking Tire Car Pack is available for free as part of the Forza Horizon 3 Ultimate Edition or Car Pass program. Commitment-phobes can also download this single vehicle pack for $7. Featured Gallery Forza Horizon 3: Smoking Tire Car Pack News Source: Turn 10 StudiosImage Credit: Turn 10 Studios Toys/Games Aston Martin BMW Ford Jeep Lotus turn 10 studios bmw m2 forza horizon ford crown victoria aston martin vulcan forza horizon 3 gta spano

Nissan could have bought a stake in Aston Martin as early as 2012

Aston Martin has a very interesting future ahead of it. While the British brand appeared to be struggling with aging tech for a while, fresh investment from Daimler may have shown a light toward the future with the brand getting engines and electronics from them. Also, former Renault-Nissan top exec Andy Palmer has jumped ship from the French/Japanese automaker to become CEO of the much smaller sports car company. Interestingly, though, new reports from unnamed Nissan sources have indicated that Palmer has been pushing to work with AM for years.
Three unnamed company insiders told Reuters that Palmer made attempts to convince Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn in 2012 and 2013 to invest in Aston Martin, but his proposals were shot down both times for unspecified reasons, according to Automotive News. "We looked carefully at the proposal but we passed on it," said one of the sources.
You can easily see why Palmer was eying Aston Martin even back in 2012. It's no secret that the British sports car mavens were in need of extra funding, well before the Daimler investment. Building vehicles these days is only getting more expensive with stronger safety and emissions requirements. Just look at the brand's desperate hope to get a side-impact crash exemption to keep selling its models in the US as an example.

Aston Martin seeks ‘big brother’ despite first profit in years, IPO talk

Aston Martin just reported that it earned $121 million (or GBP87 million) in 2017, its first profit in eight years, and it's preparing for a possible initial public offering, eyeing a valuation as high as $6.95 billion (GBP5 billion). It has a strategy to begin converting its fleet to hybrid and electric powertrains. Nevertheless, the low-volume British luxury marque says it needs a helping hand to survive the wave of autonomous driving technology sweeping the automotive industry. CEO Andy Palmer tells Bloomberg it's looking for a "big brother" partner to help it with the billions of dollars in capital requirements posed by the dawn of driverless cars. "We are making a new kind of company, a company that can survive on 7,000 to 14,000 very highly priced, very profitable cars a year, but it can survive because of its partnerships," Palmer told Bloomberg TV. "It can be very profitable on that 7,000 to 14,000 cars a year but only by having a big brother that can help it out." Palmer said Aston Martin already has a partnership with Daimler AG, which owns a 5-percent stake in the company, to develop autonomous capabilities, but more help is needed. One assumes he is envious of competitors like Rolls-Royce and Bentley, which benefit from the corporate parentage and financial resources of BMW and Volkswagen, respectively. Sales grew 48 percent in 2017 to nearly 5,100 units, Aston's highest sales volume in nine years, on the strength of the DB11 sports car, which starts at $211,995. It was enough for Palmer to proclaim in a release, "The financial turnaround of Aston Martin is now complete." While it shops around for a sugar daddy, Aston Martin is busy building a new factory in Wales, set to open in 2019. It has launched new models like the DB11 Volante and Vantage, plus the limited-production DB4 GT Continuation model. Further out, the company is building 155 examples of its first electric car, the RapidE, due in 2019, and it's developing an electric version of the DBX crossover, also for 2019. Palmer has said Aston Martin will offer all six of its vehicles in hybrid variants by 2025, with 25 percent of its vehicles to be fully electric by the end of the 2020s. Related Video: Image Credit: Aston Martin Aston Martin Autonomous Vehicles Electric Luxury aston martin rapide aston martin vantage aston martin db11 aston martin dbx aston martin db11 volante