David Brown will have a tough job developing a new sports car

IMAGINE the biggest number you can think of and then multiply it by ten. Nope, you’re still nowhere near how much it costs to develop a new car.

It’s such a fantastically enormous quantity of money that it hurts your head thinking about it. VW, for instance, threw £50bn at developing what it calls the MQB platform, which in layman’s English refers to the bits and bobs which hold the current Golf, Audi A3 and its family cousins together. Spend much less and you get the David Simisters of this world poking fun at the fact your latest sales rep special has a cheap-feeling dashboard.

My point is that because it costs such an extraordinary amount of cash to develop a new car properly, very few firms can actually afford to, which is why MG Rover went bust and why – despite the best efforts of the Chinese – you haven’t been able to buy a new Saab for nearly three years. It’s why Aston Martin’s ‘new’ models are always thinly-disguised rehashes of the decade-old DB9 and why Fiat ended up buying Chrysler outright the other week. Virtually no one can afford to develop a car.

Which is why I’m just a bit cynical about what’s roughly the 327^th attempt by a British businessmen to set up his own sports car company.

Last weekend I got word of David Brown’s efforts to set up his own firm, called David Brown Automotive. The name’s great – chiefly because it immediately conjures connotations of a (non-related) David Brown’s involvement in Aston Martin, which led to a string of beautiful GT cars – and the badge, a stylised Union Flag, pushes all the right patriotic buttons. He’s got talent on board too, in the form of Land Rover’s former design boss, and he’s confident he get a new car, as if from nowhere, ready to wow us this April.

It’s bold, it’s British, and it’s a new sports car. But haven’t we heard all this before?

For every Ariel Atom or Caterham there’s a Marcos or a Jensen, or an Invicta or a Lea-Francis, that has promised to take on Johnny Foreigner with a new sports car developed for about 50p – and subsequently vanished without trace. There are handful that crack this toughest of automotive nuts, but I’ve just got a horrible feeling that the David Brown will join all the other old sports cars you’d forgotten existed.

I would love, of course, to be proven wrong and for a plucky Brit to come good for a change. Sadly, I have my doubts.

Aston Martin and AMG Mercedes confirm engines agreement

ASTON MARTIN has signed an agreement with Mercedes which will see the British sports car using the German firm’s engines in years to come.

The company this week formalised a deal which will see it collaborate with AMG, Mercedes’ official tuning and motorsport division, to bring new V8s to the next generation of Aston’s sports cars.

It ends the company’s reliance on the current Ford-developed V12 and the Jaguar-sourced V8.

Forget the Cygnet. Toyota and Aston should team up to make a proper small car

WHAT do you get if you cross Britain’s coolest brand with one of my favourite small cars? A sales flop in the making, apparently.

You might already know that Aston Martin, makers of James Bond’s motors of choice, have taken the axe to their smallest model, after just three years. It joins the Tickford Metro and the Panther Rio in the list of expensive-but-not-expansive relics that show why kitting out small cars with just about every extra imaginable just doesn’t work. I’m not surprised; given the choice between a Toyota iQ that’s had its price trebled or a shiny new Lotus Elise, I know which I’d take.

The Cygnet’s story of the ugly duckling not quite turning into the swan Aston had hoped is – if you’ve been reading the motoring magazines at least – well documented, but its demise has put a more important truth in the shade.

The Toyota iQ, the car the Cygnet’s based on, is an absolute belter.

I remember first driving one on the country lanes of North Wales four years ago and being amazed at how well what looks like a washing machine on wheels handles. Considering I’d just stepped out of an original Mini and hopped straight into the weirdly-proportioned baby Toyota, I remember being blown away by how surefooted it felt.

The big news back in 2009 was that the iQ could squeeze four people into the same space Smart managed to get two, although the tradeoff was forever having to choose between your mates and your luggage. It was – and, I reckon, still is – a very cleverly engineered little car which manages to fit an impossibly great deal of stuff into what should be an unreasonably small space. Not unlike what my beloved Mini managed all those years ago!

In fact, the reason why the iQ isn’t on every other driveway in the land – even though it costs a third of what the Cygnet did – is down to a problem of Toyota’s own doing. Wander into one of its showrooms and you can also buy something called the Aygo, which might not be as extravagantly engineered but it’s even more fun to drive, has room for mates AND luggage at the same time and costs less to buy. It’s a win win for the world’s biggest car company, of course, but probably not for clever cars that appeal to people like me.

Unless, of course, Aston and Toyota team up and create a small car that doesn’t have the oddball factor. A GT86 sports car with Aston trimmings and the badge to match? Yes please!

The Aston Martin CC100 shocks for all the right reasons

OUTRAGEOUS. Attention-grabbing. Extrovert. Not words, chances are, you’ll have been using to describe Aston Martin’s offerings of late.

The company makes some of the most graceful motoring offerings on the market today and – right from the entry-level V8 Vantage to the reinvented Vanquish – they’re not exactly lacking in thumping amounts of torque and exhaust notes so good they induce goosebumps either. They’re all things of beauty, but shocking or genuinely surprising they aren’t. Stylistically at least all of Aston’s current range harks back to the DB9 of 2004, which in turn borrowed more than a few of its good looks from 1994’s DB7. 

That’s why the company’s latest concept car, the open-top, two-seater CC100, is such a breath of fresh air. It’s inspired by the car that brought Aston one of its greatest motorsport moments – the DBR1, which won Le Mans in 1959 – and is loud, lairy and just a little bit yellow in all the right places. Everything a brand new DB9 isn’t, basically.

The thing that really excites me about the CC100, though, is that the last genuinely eyeball-grabbing Aston concept, the 1998 Project Vantage, sired the original Vanquish three years later.

Fingers crossed we get a CC100 for the road, then!

Bond's Aston Martin DB5 looks stunning in Skyfall

YOU always know from the amount of secret agent-themed ads on telly when there’s a new Bond blockbuster on the way.

Unless you’ve been hiding in a cave for the past year you’ll already know that 007’s latest adventure is called Skyfall, and will feature Daniel Craig in his third outing as the suave secret agent, once you’ve got through Adele crooning her way through the theme song. I also freely admit I’m very nearly as much of a Bond nut as I am a car nut – even though I’ll enjoy pretty much any movie which features explosions and car chases, I always reserve a particular fondness for the Bond films.

But what’s really whetting my appetite for the new one isn’t a sultry sidekick or a spectacular storyline. It’s those publicity shots of Bond’s DB5 on the spy’s trip to the Scottish Highlands.

The DB5 has always been a fabulously good looking thing but I don’t think I’ve ever seen the quintessential Bond car in a more breathtaking setting. There’s a moody, bleak beauty to the scenery while the car obviously gives the shot a very retro feel; the classic English GT eating up the miles through the stunning Scottish landscapes.

In fact, that’s pretty much what director Sam Mendes went for, and told national media earlier this year: “I felt it was a thematic thing. It's definitely about the old and the new. And there's something about the last part of the movie which deliberately, very consciously, could have taken place in 1962.”

The thing I love most of all about these pictures is that, in much the same way the Daniel Craig movies have tried to take Bond back to basics, devoid of CGI and gadgets, so these shots take the DB5 away from being a cheesy automotive cliché and remind car nuts what it really is and what it does best; it’s a classy, handcrafted GT car, designed to wind its way over mountain passes in speed and comfort.

Forget the race against the Ferrari F355 in Goldeneye – this is what a classic Aston is all about. Fingers crossed then, with Mr Mendes appearing to do the DB5 justice in these shots, that’ll he take good care of 007 himself in the new film.

Skyfall hits the cinemas later this month. I, for one, can’t wait.

Geneva Motorshow: The Life On Cars top 10

SWITZERLAND'S biggest motorshow isn't just about shiny new supercars, apparently, although looking at some of the reports from this year's Geneva Motorshow you'd be forgiven for thinking it was.

But between the brand new stunners from Lamborghini and Pagani were a few cars you might actually be able to buy, so the new models* strutting their stuff were a brilliant - but mixed - bag.

Here's what Life On Cars is saving up for:

1) Suzuki Swift Concept S

The closest yet to a replacement for the wonderful Swift Sport Life On Cars tested last month. Here's hoping!

2) Lamborghini Aventador


The long-awaited replacement for the Murciélago, complete with a new V12 churning out no less than 700bhp. Worth waiting a decade for.

3) Jaguar XKR-S


Jaguar celebrates the 50th anniversary of unveiling the E-Type at Geneva with a 550bhp modern equivalent. You know you want one.

4) Aston Martin Virage


Right on cue is Aston's ripposte to the XKR-S, boasting 490bhp from the familiar 6.0 litre V12 and a name not seen since the company's coupes of the early Nineties.

5) Ford B-MAX


The Blue Oval's response to the Vauxhall Meriva, with equally clever rear doors.


6) Hyundai i40


What do you mean Korea can't do smooth and stylish? This sleek Mondeo rival bets you a fiver it can.

7) Alfa Romeo 4C


Straight in the footsteps of the 8C supercar comes this mid-engined, two-seater, rear-wheel drive Alfa sports car. Think of it as an Italian Elise.

8) Audi A3 concept


Not too sure about the saloon styling for the next A3, but the 408bhp V8's got to stay.

9) Range Rover "Evoque"


Not too sure whether this is what Land Rover meant when it was launching the smallest, lightest and greenest Range Rover model ever, but I like it anyway.

10) MINI Rocketman


As a former Mini owner this was the real star of the show, because it takes BMW's reinvention of the classic small car back to basics. I'll probably get panned by my fellow Mini enthusiasts for saying it, but I like it. A lot.

*The new models don't include Bertone's stunning B99 concept, which Jaguar has now said won't make production. Shame.

Read more on the Geneva Motorshow in the new Life On Cars Magazine, out this week.

Licensed to thrill

FOUND a spare £3 million stashed somewhere behind your sofa? If you're planning on blowing it on the world's most famous car, you've missed your chance.

The Aston Martin DB5 used by Sean Connery to chat up girls in Goldfinger and Thunderball has just been flogged off at auction for a cool £2,912,000, and word is it's off to Ohio to become the centrepiece of a privately-owned collection there. So it means another iconic bit of our movie-making heritage is being shipped away from British shores.

Don't worry though, because if you do what I've just done and pay a visit to the picturesque town of Keswick, you can clock not one, but two spot-the-difference DB5s sat in museums up there. Anyone who's ever been up to the Lakes on a rainy day is probably already familiar with the one sat in the town's Cars of The Stars Museum, but it's the much newer Bond Museum, a ten minute walk to the other side of the town, that's really worth the visit. If you've ever seen a Bond film - and I know of only one person who hasn't - it's an absolute gem.

Obviously you get a silver DB5 thrown in - it is THE James Bond car - but you also get to see the aquatic Lotus Esprit once used to transport Roger Moore's eyebrows around, the invisible Aston from Die Another Day (although this particular gadget wasn't working that day) and just about every other prop Pinewood Studios had lying around.

But my own particular favourite had to be the actual car used to escape from some annoyed Czech police officers in The Living Daylights, even though I was convinced it'd been blown up as part of the car chase across a frozen lake. It is the real star from my favourite Bond film of all, even though Timothy Dalton was also the best actor to play Bond. There, I said it.

Whether you're a petrolhead or not, if you've ever enjoyed any James Bond film you're going to love this museum, which is well worth the visit on your next walking holiday in the Lakes.

Complaints from Sean Connery fans to the usual address, please.

Who wants to be a millionaire?

OUR collective efforts in The Champion office to win the Euromillions haven't been going terribly well so far.

Every week a gang of us journalist types get together in faint hope that we can win the continent's biggest prize draw, and at about half eleven each Friday night we discover we're still nowhere nearer to becoming overnight millionaires. This is a good thing because if I ever came across millions of pounds through a lottery win, I'd have no idea what to do with it.

Asking someone what they'd do with £40 million is pointless because it's such an inconceivably vast amount of money for a single person to spend (although Elton John might spend it on flowers), but given our reports last week that there's an unclaimed ticket somewhere in West Lancashire, it's a question someone's probably about to answer. Naturally, they'll need a car or two.

Fellow Champ columnist Jim Sharpe reckoned he'd buy a Bristol if his numbers came up, but unless you fancy blowing £140,000 on something that looks like a slightly melted Ford Capri I'd steer clear. Nor should you spend your millions on any of the old classics I reccomended last year in this column, because you'll end up with hundreds of the things and not one of them will work properly.

Forget any Ferrari, Porsche, Bentley or large Mercedes because it'll make you look like a footballer, running you the risk of appearing in Heat magazine by mistake.

Aston Martins are out of the running these days too; production has been ramped up so much it seems you're as likely to spot one as a Ford Focus in a traffic jam. And Rolls Phantoms are a bit too Alan Sugar.

Nor can you go for anything from the other side of the Atlantic either, because while the Cadillac Escalades and GMC Yukons are perfect for rap videos, they're just too big for Britain's roads. Same goes for the Corvette and Viper.

If it were my money I'd make a beeline straight to Blackpool and TVR, in the hope of having a hugely pretty but slightly bonkers sports car built just for me. Or at least I would if the factory hadn't shut down several years ago. In fact, I'd go for all of these:

1) TVR Griffith - A modern day E-Type, wonderful in every way
2) Aston Martin One-77 - The first extreme Aston for at least a decade
3) Ferrari 458 Italia - Because a Ferrari has to be beautiful
4) Ferrari F40 - See above
5) Jaguar XJ220 - Stunning but criminally underrated twenty years on
6) TVR Cerbera 4.5 (pictured) - Another TVR but wonderful in a weird and wacky way
7) Range Rover Vogue - But only in retro British Leyland shades, please
8) Audi Sport Quattro - Scary
9) Aston Martin Cygnet - Because a £50,000 Toyota IQ makes sense when you're a millionaire
10) Lotus Evora - A masterclass in minimalism

The problem with most millionaire motors is they make you look like a prat when you're driving them, particularly in these troubled times, so in a small way, I'm glad I'm unlikely to face the daunting prospect of buying one.

It could be you, though...

In true Life On Cars tradition, feel free to suggest your own top tens as comments.

A Life On Cars special: 2010's most exciting motors

EVEN if you answered the final question on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire correctly, you still wouldn’t have enough to get behind the wheel of 2010’s most exciting motor.

Aston Martin’s One-77 might be the most exciting and energetic supercar ever launched by the British firm, but at a cool £1.2 million, it’s so eye-wateringly expensive that only the most successful of The X Factor’s judges will ever get behind the wheel.

Yet you won’t mind, because 2010 is set to be a bumper year for great cars...

1. Aston Martin Cygnet



Mere mortals can still get behind a steering wheel adorned with those evocative Aston Martin wings, because for the first time ever the company has moved away from making James Bond’s motors and brought out a city slicker.

The Cygnet, Aston’s unlikely urban runabout, is a Toyota IQ with English trimmings, which at first sounds about as appetising as serving sushi and roast beef on the same plate, but the Japanese tot is a surprisingly fun little car to drive and the one to beat when it comes to clever engineering. It’s a great place for the sports car makers to start, and it’s just a shame you’ll have to be an existing Aston owner to buy one.

2. MINI Countryman



The Cygnet will also have to take on another iconic British brand, because MINI are offering not one but two tempting takes on their revival of a motoring legend, one of the Noughties’ biggest success stories.

The original Mini Countryman, introduced in the 1960s, was a cute estate version of the plucky small car but the new one throws extra doors and off-roader styling cues into the mix, and I’m not entirely sure whether existing MINI fans are going to like it. More likely to impress MINI moguls is the Coupe, which despite its love-it-or-loathe-it looks is bound to build on the Cooper’s longstanding reputation of being great fun to drive and could prove a hot hatch hit.

3. Peugeot 308RC Z



One of the MINI Coupe's sure-fire competitors, Peugeot’s surprisingly stylish 308RC Z, should be one of 2010’s memorable machines. It might be derived from the dowdy 308 hatchback but thanks to a slinky sports car body and a distinctive “bubble” roof it’s easily the prettiest Pug for at least a decade. Think of it as a cut-price Audi TT and you won’t be far off.

4. Citroen DS3



Another French contender for your cash is Citroen’s first attempt to bring a little luxury to its line-up. The DS3 might be based on the next version of the C3 supermini, which isn’t due out until next year, but it’s exactly the sort of image-conscious little car you might consider if you think the Fiat 500 is a little last season.

5. Saab 9-5



One car maker which could definitely do with a little continental know-how is Saab, and it got it earlier this year when Dutch supercar specialists Spyker took the reins at the troubled Swedish firm. The new 9-5, due out later this year, is one of a few cars I’m really aching to get behind the wheel of, just to see whether behind its bold styling is the luxury car comeback of the decade.

6. Jaguar XJ



The last company to pull that trick off was Jaguar, after the sporty XF wowed critics by showing it can still do saloons properly. Its big brother, the XJ, is proving a little more controversial by taking the big cat’s best known car and replacing it with something which looks a little awkward from most angles, but Jaguar don’t take risks lightly. It could be the cat that gets the cream!

7. Ferrari 458 Italia



You know it’s going to be a good year if there’s a new Ferrari on offer, and for 2010 we’ve got the first truly beautiful Ferrari for a generation on the way. The chances of me actually driving the 458 Italia are slim to non-existent, but I’m not bothered because that would mean having to be inside it, the one place you can’t take in that gorgeous riot of Rosso Red curves. There really isn’t a line out of place.

8 and 9. Rolls Royce Ghost and Bentley Mulsanne




The 458 should make the perfect companion in any millionaire’s garage for either the Rolls-Royce Ghost or the Bentley Mulsanne, both of which go on sale to Alan Sugar types later in the year. Whether you’re swayed by the Bentley’s sporty charm or the Roller’s definition of luxury is really a matter of taste, but both look likely to offer a blend of indomitable British style with a hint of German engineering prowess. Any offers of test drives to the usual Life On Cars address, please.



10. Ford Focus




The great thing about the single car I’m looking forward to driving most is that you don’t need to be a millionaire at all. You might not get excited by a new Ford Focus because it’s Britain’s best-selling car, but both of its first two generations proved you don’t have to be a car bore to appreciate something that drives brilliantly.

It doesn’t matter what size your wallet is when it comes to splashing out on a car this year, because there’s so much out there that’ll impress and inspire even the least enthusiast of drivers.

I’d still quite like a go in that Aston, though…

Don't throw Mervyn's money at the banks, spend it on cars instead

BRITAIN'S beleaguered bunch of bankers and business tsars really ought to stop ruining the economy and move into classic cars instead.

This is just one of the conclusions I've learned from a weekend traipsing around the Classic Motor Show, an annual gathering of beards, Brummies and old Bristols at the National Exhibition Centre, just outside Birmingham.



Sure, the sight of Alan Sugar sprawled underneath a Sunbeam Tiger is about as likely as Richard Hammond running Northern Rock, but I honestly think the world of classic cars could do with a little quantative easing.




Lots of you have probably been to these shows - our very own Woodvale Rally does a great job of showcasing Southport's older motors - but the telling thing wasn't actually the acres of polished panels adorning the show's entrants.

It was actually the suspicious number of car-sized trailers parked just outside, some probably costing more than their cargo. I wager that not one of the wheeled wonders at the show actually arrived under its own steam, which gives naïve visitors the wrong impression.



The best bits were undoubtedly the dream classics nobody could afford to run - apart from Sir Fred Goodwin, perhaps - but away from all the D-Types, Astons and Ferraris was a procession of MGs, Singers and other sad machines that spend their lives in lock-ups and had been ushered into the show on trailers like diva celebrities. Even Mariah Carey doesn't get that sort of treatment.

Don't get me wrong, the show was fantastic but too many of the machines just seemed the subject of Mervyn King-style investment. And there I was thinking the £5,500 my flatmate's just spent on another Ford Capri was a bit much.



In fact the real star of the show was in fact the lone Triumph Stag parked next to us in the car park, which had all those lovely telltale signs of actually being used on a daily basis. Away from the endless array of too-clean Cortinas and money-no-object Morris Marinas, this was a refreshing shot of reality.

The chap who owns it is clearly a sensible soul who knows how to spend money properly. I think he should be our leader.



Revisit Life On Cars later this week for more pictures from the show.

Silly but brilliant

DOES anyone have £20,000 I can borrow?

I only ask because I've completely changed my opinion on Aston Martin's forthcoming city car - no, really - codenamed Cygnet. It's not so much as ugly duckling as an utterly brilliant idea.

Behind the blu-tacked DB9 grille and silly bonnet vents is actually an IQ, Toyota's 67bhp solution for anyone who wants to look stylish in a traffic jam. Its boot is laughably tiny and it costs more than its (far roomier) Aygo sister, but it's brilliant.

The IQ, with its full foursome of seats, is so much smarter than a two-seater Smart, and there's something about its silly dimensions that makes it more fun to hoot about in than Ford's Ka or Vauxhall's Agila. In fact, the only thing that would come close to me writing a cheque for ten grand is Fiat's 500, but for very different reasons.

The Cygnet, though, costs twice that, and blending the IQ with Aston's DBS is like putting roast beef and sushi on the same plate. Either that or a very bad hand at Scrabble. The working title's not exactly racy either; DBQ, anyone?

Yet somehow, in a slightly chintzy sort of way, I still want one. It's just a shame then that even if I did have £20,000 I still can't have one, because they're all going to existing Aston owners.

Never mind. I'll just look forward to seeing Bond chasing baddies in Fiat 500s at the helm of his DBQ...

Endings...

DID anyone see the ending of last night’s episode of Top Gear?

Stunning scenery, Aston’s new V12 Vantage and gloriously open roads were always going to make for a great combination but it was sad to see Jeremy Clarkson declare that motoring as we know it is “coming to an ending.”

As a lifelong Top Gear fan I respect his views enormously but I really wish he wouldn’t leave us with a life of gridlock and speed cameras to look forward to.

Brighten up, mate!