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2020 Aston Martin DBS GT Zagato revealed with 'fluttering' grille, no rear window

The 2020 Aston Martin DBS GT Zagato has finally been revealed in new renderings of the production vehicle from the British sports car builder. This is the car that's only being sold in pairs with the continuation DB4 GT Zagato, and only 19 pairs of the two models will be built. It also looks a whole lot like its predecessor, the Vanquish Zagato. It has the rocket booster taillights, exaggerated rear fenders, double-bubble roof and enormous front grille, but there are differences, some of which are particularly unique. Take the front grille, for example: Besides lacking the dual round fog lights of the Vanquish example, the DBS grille is active. According to Aston Martin, the grille is made up of 108 individual pieces of carbon fiber, and when the car is shut off, they all move to make the grille solid and flush with the body. Then when the car fires up, they all move to allow air through. The company describes it as the car appearing to "flutter" to life. Then there's the roof, which is one piece of carbon fiber that stretches from the windshield to the edge of the trunk lid. It's a gorgeous piece that adds a two-tone look and highlights the double-bubble design. It also lacks any molded-in louvers to allow rear visibility. To get around that, Aston Martin has added a rear-view camera that displays images in a screen where the mirror would go, just like GM's mirror screen. Those are the most unique design tweaks, but there are more subtle ones, too. The whole car looks lower and longer than the Vanquish, in part thanks to the DBS' leaner body. The side vents are longer. The rear taillights are smaller and incorporated into a black finish panel. There also aren't deep side skirts. Instead, the rocker panels are rounded and tucked in like on a '60s sports car. Final specifications for the DBS GT Zagato are still unclear, but the company has said that the car will be based on the DBS Superleggera. That means it will have a twin-turbo 5.2-liter V12 making at least 715 horsepower and 664 pound-feet of torque. That's significantly more than the Vanquish Zagato's 576 horsepower. Production begins in 2020, and pricing for this and its DB4 continuation partner is $7.9 million.

Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato expected to fetch over $16M

Classic car collectors will want to head to New York on December 10. That's where RM Sotheby's will be holding its Driven by Disruption sale, with some of the most desirable pieces of automotive history on the docket. And arguably the most tempting of them is the 1962 Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato pictured here. The start of a long and distinguished partnership between Aston Martin and Zagato, the DB4 GT is considered by many (ourselves included) to be one of the most beautiful automobiles ever made. You can judge for yourself after looking over the images in the gallery above. Only 19 were originally made, of which this, the 14th example, was the only one delivered new to Australia. After undergoing a complete restoration in 2002, chassis number DB4GT/0186/R won first-in-class awards at both Pebble Beach and Villa d'Este. RM hasn't published pre-sale estimates for how much it expects to get for this one, but in correspondence with Autoblog, a spokesperson for the auction house revealed that "it is expected to fetch in excess of $16 million USD when it crosses the podium in December." That would eclipse by order of magnitude the prices fetched at auction for previous examples in recent years, which (according to the records at Sports Car Market) have traded hands for around $2.5 million. Of course, the Aston isn't the only classic automobile consigned for the event. With two months still to go before the auction takes place, RM has confirmed a 1955 Siata 208S Spider that's expected to fetch upwards of $1.5 million, a '53 Ferrari 250 Europa (~$4 million), and a '38 Bugatti Type 57C Atalante (>$2 million). Fans of more modern and rare equipment, however, may be more enticed by the Lamborghini Concept S previously announced for the auction, expected to go for as much as $3 million.

Aston CEO claims Cygnet cancelled because Toyota is dropping iQ in 2014

While slow sales and a $50,000 price tag may have been contributing factors to the Aston Martin Cygnet being cancelled last month, Aston Martin CEO Ulrich Bez is pointing the finger at Toyota for the demise of this luxurious little city car. In a discussion with Autocar, Bez is quoted as saying that the ultimate reason the Cygnet was cut is because Toyota plans on dropping the iQ (on which the Cygnet is based) in 2014 - a claim denied by the Japanese automaker.
Interestingly, the article also cites another publication reporting that a Toyota importer in the Netherlands heard the same news as Bez, and it has already stopped importing the cars. If the European Toyota iQ is cancelled, that would likely spell the end of the slow-selling Scion iQ in the US, which has sold just 3,365 units through September (a drop of 51 percent year over year).
Regardless of why production of the Cygnet ended, Bez also says that a lack of support from Toyota on the project prevented it from being offered in the US or receiving a supercharged engine, which are two factors that likely would have made the car appealing to more buyers.