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Typically when an automaker releases a new car, we see it in a press release (whether embargoed for later release or not) before it pops up on their public-domain website. But not this time.

The car in question is the Aston Martin DBS Ultimate, a vehicle whose arrival we were anticipating. Like the Ultimate edition of the Vanquish that came before it, the DBS Ultimate is a harbinger of the vehicle’s departure from the catalog. A new model is expected to arrive in celebration of the company’s centenary next year, but before it does, the last few customers will have the privilege of owning one of the few Ultimate editions of the DBS that will ever be produced.

We’ve yet to receive word on just how many those will be, or what they will cost, but we can tell you that each car will be individually numbered. They will also feature special badging, a painted rear deck-lid spoiler, carbon-fiber wing mirror caps, a darkened grille, smoked tail-lamps, Zircotec-coated tail pipes and a choice of yellow, black or red brake calipers.

The interior is decked out in diamond-quilted stitching on the leather seats and Alcantara headliner in either red or silver thread. Buyers will also be able to choose between three exterior paint finishes – Carbon Black II, Quantum Silver or Silver Fox – and order theirs in either coupe or Volante convertible body-styles and with either a manual or automatic transmission.

We’ll have to wait for that press release to come out to bring you more information – particularly on pricing and availability – by which time they’ll all likely to have been spoken for. But you can check it out now on the company’s website or in the screen caps we’ve assembled for you in the gallery above.

Aston Marin reveals DBS Ultimate online

When Audi announced the 2013 A8 with the 3.0T V6, it didn’t mention fuel economy numbers but did tout the 333-horsepower engine’s “great efficiency.” According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the V6 efficiency exactly matches that of the more powerful 372-horsepower, 4.2-liter V8 – the 3.0T was rated the same 18 city, 28 highway as the naturally aspirated 4.2.

It’s figured that the stop/start system fitted to the V6 will provide a slight bump, which, since the EPA doesn’t factory such tech into its testing, doesn’t register in the official numbers. It’s difficult to make fuel economy comparisons with the same engines in other countries since they have different power ratings; in Germany, for instance, the V6 is rated at 286 hp, the 4.2 isn’t offered and the 4.0 TSFI V8 makes 414 hp – but in that case, the V6 does get better gas mileage, if you’re wondering.

Speaking of wondering, that’s what many including our own commenters are doing about the space between the 333-hp V6 and 520-hp V8 in the S8. The report in Car and Driver posits a detuned version of the S8’s motor. No matter what, the V6 A8 will be less expensive than all of them, which was the real point all along.

2013 Audi A8 3.0T matches 4.2 V8 fuel economy numbers

Toyota Supra successor, Nissan Juke-R, Cadillac ATS pricing, GM Europe restructuring, Prius PHEV sales

Episode #281 of the Autoblog Podcast is here, and this week, Chris, Dan, and Zach chat about the fresh rumors of a new Toyota Supra, the Nissan Juke-R heading for (very) limited production, Cadillac ATS pricing, GM Europe headed for another restructuring, and sales of the Toyota Prius PHEV. Your questions and comments power the end of the ‘cast, and for those of you who hung with us live on our UStream channel, thanks for taking the time. We’ve embedded our Q&A module after the jump for you to scroll through and follow along, too. Thanks for listening!

Autoblog Podcast #281:

Topics:

• Toyota Supra successor rumors
• Nissan Juke-R headed for limited production
• General Motors Europe restructuring… again
• Toyota Prius über-alles

In the Autoblog Garage:
2013 Ford Flex SEL
2012 Buick Enclave

Hosts: Dan Roth, Chris Shunk, Zach Bowman

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Email: Podcast at Autoblog dot com

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Continue reading Autoblog Podcast #281

Autoblog Podcast #281

Distracted driving has joined smoking, drinking, drug use, and unprotected sex on the list of behaviors that teens know are risky but engage in nonetheless.

According to a national survey by Consumer Reports, half of all teens surveyed had used a handheld phone while driving in the past 30 days, while 30 percent copped to texting. Eight percent said they operated a smart phone app and seven percent used email or social media while driving. But how many considered this behavior a bad idea? Fully 63 percent said talking on the phone could be considered “dangerous,” while almost all of them thought the others qualified, with about 80 percent agreeing to adding the word “very” to that description, according to CR.

We’ve already seen clever public service announcements attempting to curb this behavior, and CR’s survey says the publicity is working. Over 60 percent of respondents said they were influenced to stop or reduce phone use while driving by reading or hearing about the problem, while only 40 percent responded to legal bans. And of course, family members laying down the law fared the worst, at only 30 percent saying that caused them to knock it off and put the phone down when behind the wheel.

Unsurprisingly, CR found that positive peer pressure could help curb the behavior, as almost 50 percent said they were less likely to talk on the a handheld cell phone or text if they had a buddy in the car. The magazine inferred that this could have to do with the half of respondents who said they had asked someone to stop using their phone while they were a passenger.

Of course, this problem with talking and texting while driving isn’t restricted to teenagers. Just like kids growing up in the 1980s learned to do drugs by watching their parents, the youth of today are witnessing mom and dad engaging in distracted driving. CR says 48 percent of young drivers said they’d seen a parent talking on the phone while driving and 15 percent caught one texting.

This got us thinking: Maybe it’s time to reboot our favorite PSA of all time. Scroll down to watch.

Continue reading Young drivers know distracted driving is dangerous, do it anyway

Young drivers know distracted driving is dangerous, do it anyway

It’s a long ride into 2015, and you can expect it to be filled with seemingly endless speculations and renderings, all surrounding the next-generation Ford Mustang. Inside Line hass pieced together the information it has managed to gathered so far and produced a rendering that, if not for the Evos concept, would be considered not just next-generation, but next millennium.

What it does, though, is tweak the Evos with the recognizable Mustang forms that IL s been told will remain, like the three-bar taillamps and the three-quarter light, though, again, the whole thing looks decidedly futuristic. Still, don’t get too attached to this rendering – there’ll no doubt be plenty more before we’re through.

Next Ford Mustang rendered… again

With an epic chassis and the lowest center of gravity in the business, there’s plenty for enthusiast to love about the Scion FR-S. Except, that is, for those who prefer to take their nimble, affordable sports cars with the roof down. Their choices are rather limited in this price category to the Mazda MX-5 and Ford Mustang, but if the latest reports prove accurate, the FR-S – which is, of course, virtually identical to the Subaru BRZ and sold overseas as the Toyota GT 86 – is preparing to throw its hat in the ring, as well.

Long rumored, a convertible version of the jointly-developed “Toyobaru” coupe could stand to boost sales figures and help the bean-counters justify the expenditure on the new platform. However while the speedster concept recently showcased at Long Beach lost its rear seats (along with most of its windshield), Car and Driver predicts that the FR-S convertible will keep the auxiliary pair in the back – though the addition of a folding roof mechanism would likely mean that would come at the expense of most of the trunk room.

We’re told to expect the FR-S convertible to arrive sometime late in 2013 or early in 2014, with a price tag that would tack a few grand onto the coupe’s $25,000 MSRP. Look for the same 2.0-liter, 200-horsepower boxer four to carry over with a choice of six-speed transmissions in either manual or automatic configurations. Beyond that, Toyota may be considering basing a larger four-door sedan and coupe off the new platform, which could stand to make the money men back at headquarters – to say nothing of the enthusiasts – even more happy.

Scion FR-S convertible coming by early 2014

Josh Wainwright became a living testimony for the value helmets during the British Superstock 600 recently. The rider put his bike down on the 11th lap just ahead of Johnny Bradshaw. With nowhere to go and no time to get there, Bradshaw literally drove over Wainwright’s head with his motorcycle, catapulting both riders down the track.

Miraculously, Wainwright escaped the off with nothing more than a cracked rib and a broken collarbone. Bradshaw walked away without serious injury as well.

Any impact to the head involving that kind of velocity typically brings about neck injury concerns, but Wainwright seems to have avoided that peril. You can check out the video below for yourself to see just how close both Wainwright and Bradshaw came to having significantly worse days.

Continue reading Watch Josh Wainwright deflect a motorcycle with his head

Watch Josh Wainwright deflect a motorcycle with his head

Today Chevrolet announced that a 2013 Corvette ZR1 will pace this year’s Indianapolis 500, marking the 23rd time that a Chevy has paced the race and the 11th time the Corvette has performed the duty. With 638 horsepower from its supercharged 6.2-liter V8, the Corvette ZR1 will be the most powerful production machine to serve as the race’s pace car.

Helping to celebrate six decades of production, the 2013 Corvette ZR1 pace car mimics the design cues of the 60th anniversary package that debuted earlier this year with Arctic White exterior paint and a full-length racing stripe in Pearl Silver Blue. Inside is a Blue Diamond leather-wrapped interior with suede accents.

Look for the 2013 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 during the 96th running of the Indianapolis 500, scheduled to start at 12:00 pm ET on Sunday, May 27th.

Scroll down to see the official details from Chevrolet.

Continue reading 2013 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 to pace 96th Indianapolis 500

2013 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 to pace 96th Indianapolis 500

We at Autoblog, por supuesto, love us some behind-the-scenes car development videos. We also dig smart humor, and we think the two are gloriously combined in this German take on almost every dramatic engineering/track/shakedown vid that has hit the YouTubes. Until it gets a tad too absurd, at least…

Put together by the same gents who earlier made an aluminum-foil Porshce 911 bike, this time they’ve worked up a car they call the Fahrradi Farfalla FXX which is loosely based on a whole lot of other cars. When they give it the shakedown in a German tunnel, well, you’ll just have to see for yourself what happens. Scroll down to see what’s up.

Continue reading Power to the Pedals: Ferrari FXX gets the human-powered treatment

Power to the Pedals: Ferrari FXX gets the human-powered treatment

Continue reading 2013 BMW 6 Series Gran Coupe

2013 BMW 6 Series Gran Coupe

The M Division of BMW has extended its range of sportifying performance parts to the 2012 3 Series and 2011-2012 5 Series. Among the suite of components are a sport steering wheel, carbon fiber and Alcantara interior trim, carbon fiber splitters and mirror caps and two-toned 20-inch forged wheels hiding a Brembo big-brake kit with painted calipers. Oh, and racing stripes.

Naturally, in addition to making your car look more M-ish, the parts carry a multi-year BMW warranty. Scroll down for the skinny and get a visual idea of where your paycheck’s about to go in the high-res gallery of photos.

Continue reading BMW announces M Performance Parts for 3, 5 Series

BMW announces M Performance Parts for 3, 5 Series

We’re almost ready to record Episode #281 of the Autoblog Podcast, and you can check out the topics below, add your own to the Q&A and join us live via UStream, as well, and we’ve embedded our UStream player after the jump. Thanks for listening!

Discussion Topics for Autoblog Podcast Episode #281

• Toyota Supra successor rumors
• Nissan Juke-R headed for limited production
• General Motors Europe restructuring… again
• Toyota Prius über-alles

Continue reading Autoblog Podcast #281 goes LIVE at 10PM Eastern

Autoblog Podcast #281 goes LIVE at 10PM Eastern

We’ve been guilty of putting a vehicle or three on two wheels occasionally, but never on purpose. James “Ski” Smith, on the other hand, has made a habit of standing a car on edge for extended periods of time. That’s impressive enough by our standards, but Smith recently attempted to take his skills to the next level by piloting a fox body Ford Mustang all the way around Laguna Seca. Why an old Mustang? Probably because no one would shed a tear if the car wound up on its roof.

Unfortunately, Smith ran into another piece of trouble before he could tackle the track’s more daring corners. The extreme angle caused oiling issues with the V8 engine, flooding one bank with oil while depriving the other. As a result, Smith came to a stop just past Turn Six. Still, he hopes to try again soon. May we suggest he take something a little better suited to the task? A Chevrolet Volt, mayhaps? Scroll down to check out the clip for yourself.

Continue reading Man attempts to lap Laguna in a car on two wheels

Man attempts to lap Laguna in a car on two wheels

Russell Sutton is a man after our own heart. The craftsman has spent the last four years building a nine-cylinder radial engine using a smattering of Honda XR600 singles for his airboat. After a little trial and error, Sutton discovered his creation is happier running off of liquid propane gas instead of gasoline. Years of hard work finally paid off when he recently started his monster creation for the first time. The elegant radial fires with a puff of smoke before before settling into a perfect hum. Unfortunately, the success is quickly marred by the sound of mechanical failure.

As it turns out, the cast piston sleeves Sutton used in his creation can’t withstand the abuse of the radial. In addition, some of the pistons required shaving in order to work with the different stroke. Unfortunately, the shaving caused the pistons to delaminate their crown, causing further trouble. Despite the issues, Sutton seems to take the failure in stride and plans to correct the issues before firing up the engine one more time. We could all learn a thing or two from his resilience. Scroll down to check out a few videos of the engine. If you want to skip ahead, check out the second video around the 2:30 mark.

Continue reading Homemade nine-cylinder radial engine is beautiful, short-lived

Homemade nine-cylinder radial engine is beautiful, short-lived

Ford is crying foul over Japan’s desire to join a proposed free trade agreement among Asia-Pacific countries. The Trans-Pacific Partnership aims to reduce regulatory hurdles among its participants, but Steve Beigun, Ford vice president for international government affairs, claims the Japanese auto market is “the most protected automotive market in the developed world,” and that the industry is unnecessarily dependent on exports to survive. Beigun’s solution? Force the Japanese auto industry to restructure before allowing Japan in on the TPP. In industry speak, that means closing down factories.

That’s an odd claim given that Japan can’t possibly have a lower tariff on imported cars: zero percent. For comparison’s sake, importers looking to bring vehicles into the U.S. face a 2.5 percent tariff. But Beigun says Japan uses non-tariff barriers and currency manipulation to discourage imports. Beigun declined to elaborate on what those “non-tariff barriers” are. William Duncan, the director of the Japanese Automobile Manufacturers Association, has been quoted as saying Beigun’s assertions are “rather bizarre.”

If Japan is guilty of currency manipulation, it’s doing a poor job. The yen is currently at a near all-time high against the U.S. dollar, and Japanese manufacturers have steadily worked to move production out of their home country over the past two decades. All told, 70 percent of the machines Japanese automakers sell in the U.S. are built on American soil. So, why is Ford up in arms over Japan? It could be the manufacturer wants to put the country, and its manufacturers at a disadvantage in the markets covered by the TPP.

Ford says Japan should reduce size of auto industry before trade talk participation

Announced almost two years ago, Toyota finally gave us some more details about the was the all-electric RAV4 EV will be sold to the general public during the 26th Electric Vehicle Symposium in Los Angeles today. The important number? The MSRP for what Toyota calls a “fully equipped” RAV4 EV is $49,800 and will be available before the end of the year.

Toyota says the RAV4 EV’s range is 100 miles and that the car will charge from empty in approximately six hours on a 240V/40A charger. The new RAV4 EV has LED and halogen headlights and it has special “environmental blue” color emblems on the outside. The vehicle will be made at the Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada, Inc., plant in Woodstock, Ontario. The first generation of the new RAV4 EV was unveiled back at the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show. Our First Drive report is here.

With a battery and powertrain designed by Tesla, the new RAV4 EV certainly appears to be one of the new breed of compliance EVs. We had heard that the RAV4 EV will be lease only, but the official press release says the car “will go on sale in late summer 2012 through select dealers, initially in four major California metropolitan markets.” Those markets are Sacramento, the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles/Orange County and San Diego and the news matches the rumor we heard last year, that sales about be limited to California. In all, Toyota hopes to sell just 2,600 units in the next three years. Nissan Leaf, you’ve got nothing to worry about.

Continue reading Toyota RAV4 EV priced at $49,800

Toyota RAV4 EV priced at $49,800

We record Episode #281 of the Autoblog Podcast tonight, meaning you can drop us your questions via our Q&A module below and chime in to direct our conversation. Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes if you haven’t already done so, and if you want to take it all in live, tune in to our UStream (audio only) channel at 10:00 PM Eastern tonight.

Discussion Topics for Autoblog Podcast Episode #281

• Toyota Supra successor rumors
• Nissan Juke-R headed for limited production
• General Motors Europe restructuring… again
• Toyota Prius über-alles

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Submit your questions for Autoblog Podcast #281 LIVE

The folks at Motor Authority snagged some spy video of the new 2013 Ford Shelby GT500 hitting the Nürburgring. Unfortunately, rain hit the ‘Ring first, so while there are still some potent exhaust noises emanating from the 662-horsepower ‘Stang, there isn’t a lot of tearing it up on the slick surface.

Let’s talk nemesis, namely the 580-horsepower Camaro ZL1. The battleground established, the Chevrolet folks turned their verbal turrets on the Shelby and fired high-impact rounds – see Exhibits A and B – on their way to setting an 11.93-second drag time and a “Holy smokes!” 7:41 lap at the ‘Ring. Since there’s no reason to dawdle round the ‘Ring, we have to expect that Ford’s fly-by has some sort of recon purpose.

As many will bring up once the time is set, the Shelby has a mess of advantages on paper: more horsepower, more torque, less weight. No matter, for as Cormac McCarthy wrote, there will be blood. We still don’t know whose blood it will be, but oh yes, one of these cars is going to bleed. Embedding of this video has been disabled, so follow the YouTube link to watch the Shelby in action.

2013 Shelby GT500 caught testing at the Nürburgring

Even though Toyota’s unintended acceleration debacle is as ancient as Jurassic fleas for most of us, the California Distric Court of Judge James Selna is still chainsawing through a massive docket of claims. Judge Selna had been considering whether plaintiffs in California, New York and Florida could sue Toyota for economic loss related to the claims of unintended accleraton – the plaintiffs wanted Toyota to reimburse them for the alleged decline in value of their cars.

According to a report in Bloomberg, Selna issued a final ruling that the New York and Florida plaintiffs can’t sue for economic loss if they didn’t experience unintended acceleration, or if they didn’t experience “a measurable loss” when selling their cars. California plaintiffs, on the other hand, can sue even if there was no unintended acceleration event or perceived depreciation.

The ruling could remove millions of owners from of plaintiffs and make an economic-loss class action lawsuit more difficult, but plaintiffs attorneys have said they’ll try to get the cases tried in New York and Florida courts. However, the ruling doesn’t affect other plaintiffs suing over the same issue in other states. This doesn’t affect the unintended accleration cases, though; three litmus-test trials are scheduled for next year.

Judge dismisses most Toyota economic-loss claims from New York, Florida

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that 32,310 people died last year in traffic accidents, the lowest number since 1949.

NHTSA obtained that number though a statistical projection, which shows that traffic fatalities dropped 1.7 percent compared to 2010 numbers. The announcement, released today, also shows Americans collectively drove 1.2 percent less in 2011 – dropping 35.7 billion vehicle miles traveled. (NHTSA expects the fatality rate to drop in 2011 as well, predicting 1.09 American deaths for every 100 million miles driven.)

U.S. traffic fatalities have dropped seven years in a row, with the 43,510 people dying in traffic accidents in 2005. NHTSA attributes a number of factors to the continued decrease in fatalities including increased seat belt use and more safety devices inside vehicles.

By region, NHTSA noted that accidents in New England dropped the most, 7.2 percent, while accidents in California and Hawaii increased the most, 3.3 percent, compared to the year before.

U.S. traffic deaths fall to lowest level in 62 years