Luxury Importing

One of the best choices for importing luxury cars is the Aston Martin, something that goes along well with British other world famous car, the Rolls Royce. Officially known as the Aston Martin Lagonda Limited is a British manufacturer of luxury sports cars, based in Gaydon, Warwickshire, England. The company name is derived from the name of one of the company's founders, Lionel Martin, and from the Aston Hill speed hillclimb near Aston Clinton in Buckinghamshire.

The Aston Martin has gained an image of cool, dangerous, sophisticated elegance in its various appearances in James Bond films. The Aston Martin has developed a strong affiliation in James Bond films including Goldfinger(1964), Thunderball (1965), GoldenEye (1995) and Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), The Living Daylights (1987), Die Another Day (2002), Casino Royale (2006) and Quantum of Solace (2008.) Additionally the Aston Martin made its appearances in James Bond video games such as 007: Agent Under Fire (2002), James Bond 007: Night fire (2002), Everything or Nothing (2003.) Such great exposure in mainstream media has given associated the Aston Martin with the glamour and thrill of the secret agent James Bond theme.

To most James Bond movie fanatics, Daniel Craig is new face of James Bond, starting in Casino Royale. But we speculate that most car enthusiasts were more interested in seeing his new ride, the Aston Martin DBS, than the handsome new Bond man. Unfortunately, Bond rendered the slinky supercoupe's appearance to more of a cameo than a starring role, choosing to roll it several times in a ditch to save his damsel in distress within just minutes of hitting the "engine start" button for the first time (indeed, some of us might have chosen to save the car). The Aston Martin returned again along with Daniel Craig in Quantum of Solace (2008) during the car chase scene along Lake Garda.

The Aston Martin DBS made its official reveal at the 2007 Pebble Beach Concours d'Élégance, where Aston Martin is the featured marque. Sitting still, in the flesh (as opposed to screaming down the road in shuddering camera frames), the DBS's slick design details—a vacuous front air dam, fender vents, subtle fender flares, deep sill extensions, hood nostrils, huge 8.5-by-20-inch front and 11-by-20-inch rear wheels mounted with specially developed Pirelli P Zero tires—clearly differentiate it from the DB9 coupe on which it is based.

And as promised when we first ran spy shots of the DBS late last year, Aston significantly increased the 5935cc V-12's power output from 444 to 510 horsepower at 6500 rpm, although torque remains 420 pound-feet at 5750 revs (up from 5000). Thanks to those thick tires, a "performance honed" six-speed manual transmission, and extensive weight-reduction measures (such as using carbon fiber for body panels), Aston claims the 3750-pound fixed-roof coupe will launch from 0 to 62 mph in 4.3 seconds. Top speed is 191 mph. Special James Bond like effects, indeed.

Of course, making a DB9 Aston Martin faster won't turn it into a flagship, which Aston needs now that the Vanquish is gone. Thus, the DBS gets additional upgrades—specifically, the fitment of adaptive dampers with a track mode; carbon-ceramic brakes; and a swank, hand-finished interior with a new dash design and plenty of exotic-looking touches of metal and leather. We may not understand the DBS's Euro-market lightweight seats since they don't accommodate airbags. Every Aston Martin DBS, however, will get a sapphire-finished "ECU" (Emotion Control Unit) that special agents and below might call a key. In 2008, U.S. began importing the luxury sports car Aston Martin DBS at a price of around $265,000, which is about 100 grand higher than the cost of a DB9 coupe. As for a DBS Volante? Unlikely, at least not before the next Bond film hit’s the movie theaters.