At Pebble Beach yesterday, 16th August, Aston Martin unveiled the long-awaited new DBS – along with full technical details of this race-bred two-seater luxury sports car.

It’s a car to bridge the gap between the elegant DB9 and the ferocious DBR9 racer, as CEO Dr Ulrich Bez explained. Speaking at Pebble Beach, where Aston Martin is the featured marque, he said, “The DBS is the ultimate expression of Aston Martin’s engineering and technical ability. It offers pure performance without compromise.”

Powered by a handbuilt 6.0-litre V12 engine which develops 510bhp and 420lb ft of torque, the new DBS promises 0-62mph in just 4.3 seconds, while top speed reaches 191mph. The engine demonstrates the strong links between Aston Martin’s road and race technology. Just as the six-cylinder engine of the 1950s used in Aston Martin’s DBR2 and Project racers (but not the smaller-capacity DBR1) also powered the DB4, DB5 and DB6 road cars, so too is the current V12 powerplant shared with the DBR9 and DBRS9 racers – there tuned to produce more than 600bhp.



As with all current Aston Martins, the engine is hand-assembled at Aston Martin’s dedicated engine facility in Cologne, Germany, although the DBS itself will be built at Aston Martin’s global headquarters at Gaydon, near Warwickshire.

New for an Aston Martin production car is the extensive use of carbonfibre body panels, a key component in keeping weight down to 1695kg. Carbonfibre panels are used for the boot enclosure, boot lid, door opening surrounds, front wings and bonnet, giving a weight saving of some 30kg. As with the DB9, DBR9 and DBRS9, the DBS uses Aston Martin’s all-alloy VH (Vertical Horizontal) architecture: a lightweight bonded aluminium structure with outstanding strength and rigidity. Meanwhile, the front-mid mounted engine and rear-mid mounted transaxle achieve a near-perfect weight distribution: 85% of the car’s weight is positioned within its wheelbase.



Driver control is further enhanced by the use of a performance-honed six-speed transmission, together with new carbon ceramic brakes and an Adaptive Damping System (ADS). This is the first time that Carbon Ceramic Matrix (CCM) brakes have been used on a road-going Aston Martin. The result is shorter stopping distances with excellent resistance to fade – plus a 12.5kg weight advantage. As for the ADS, this new system uses two separate valves to set the dampers to five different positions, determined by sensor readings from the throttle position, brake position, steering wheel rotation, vehicle speed and so on. An additional ‘Track’ mode automatically sets all dampers to their firmest positions, making it ideal for circuit driving. The DBS is fitted with Pirelli P-Zero tyres, developed especially for the car, along with new 20” lightweight alloy wheels.



Deliveries of the DBS are expected to start in the first quarter of 2008, with prices to be confirmed at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September.

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Text: Charis Whitcombe
Photos: Aston Martin Lagonda - Strictly Copyright