Aston Martin reveals James Bond’s DBS

When the James Bond adventure Casino Royale is released in November, it will be the 21st big screen adaptation of Ian Fleming’s spy franchise and ironically a reprise of the first Bond screen adaptation – a made-for-television one hour CBS one hour screenplay made in 1954, almost a decade before Sean Connery took the role to the world in what became the longest-running film series in history. Connery has been succeeded in the 007 role by numerous actors with all but Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan struggling to match Connery’s presence. This year a new 007 will take on the world, when Daniel Craig stars as James Bond. One of the constants in the Bond movie equation has been cars and gadgets. In 2002 we wrote about 40 years of James Bond Gadgets and we’ve written before about the famous Aston Martin DB5 (top right with Connery) (with ejector seat, machine guns and revolving number plates) which starred in the films Thunderball and Goldfinger and became the most famous automobile in the world during the swinging sixties. Aston Martin is hoping to capture the magic of one the most successful product placement deals in history once more by taking the unprecedented step of debuting a new automobile in a film – in true Bond tradition, full details of the Aston Martin DBS are top secret but the images of what it looks like have been released. The success of the DB5 helped popularise the practice of product placement and contributed to a series of high profile automotive film associations with Bond driving such machines as a Lotus Esprit, BMW Z3, 750iL and Z8 and Aston Martin DB7 and V8 Vantage. The last Bond film, ‘Die Another Day’, featured Aston Martin’s flagship model, the V12 Vanquish (bottom right with Brosnan).

Aston Martin Design Director, Marek Reichman, said: “This car encapsulates a link between our elegant DB9 road car and the powerful DBR9 race car. It signals an evolutionary development of Aston Martin’s world renowned style and elegance.

“While hinting at our future design direction, the DBS also has very clear links with our heritage – it is instantly recognisable as an Aston Martin.”

Aston Martin Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Dr Ulrich Bez added: “The DBS continues our proud and lengthy association with James Bond.

“The DBS is not of the understated elegance of a DB9, nor the youthful agility of the V8 Vantage. It is explosive power in a black tie and has its own unique character which will equal that of James Bond.”