Skip to main content

James Bond’s new ride won’t be sold to customers

Aston Martin DB10
Image used with permission by copyright holder
If you saw the new Aston Martin DB10 created for the James Bond film Spectre and thought “I want one,” too bad.

It turns out the DB10 really was created exclusively for the movie, and won’t be sold to anyone.

That’s what Aston Martin design boss Marek Reichman told Top Gear in a recent interview, so you can stop planning that drug smuggling operation now.

Aston previously said that only 10 examples of the DB10 would be made, and they’ll apparently all be used in filming.

It’s true that production companies often keep multiple copies of a car on hand to use for different jobs, as backups, or because it just plans to destroy a few of them for trailer-bait action sequences.

Reichman said the DB10 was put through the same trials as any other movie vehicle, promising it will do all of its own stunts without any CGI trickery.

Come to think of it, Aston may not have enough DB10s. This is a Bond movie, after all.

Despite looking pretty exotic, the car is apparently based on the smallest and least-expensive Aston, the V8 Vantage. Its wheelbase and track have been stretched, but the DB10 has the same 4.7-liter engine under the hood.

Reichman hinted at an extra party piece too, noting only that “we want to focus on what James Bond’s hands are doing.”

So, manual transmission in this one, then.

While it seems logical to imagine that the DB10 will preview the styling of Aston’s upcoming DB9 replacement,  but that reportedly isn’t a given.

Future production models could borrow styling cues from the DB10, but that’s not inevitable. Designers were more focused on giving Daniel Craig an iconic car to rival Sean Connery’s DB5, not building an auto-show-style concept.

Still, at least a few people can actually put a DB5 in their garages. The DB10 will have to rely on screen time alone to make a similarly lasting impression.

Stephen Edelstein
Stephen is a freelance automotive journalist covering all things cars. He likes anything with four wheels, from classic cars…
Could Chinese cars save us from high EV prices?
BYD Han

The electric vehicle market is seriously heating up, with more great options being released every few months. But while there are more and more excellent electric vehicle options available, it’s still hard to find a great EV that doesn’t cost at least $40,000 or so.

But there could be a solution to that -- or at least a way to ease the problem. How? High-quality, low-cost Chinese EVs.
Competition
At face value, the solution to lowering EV prices is simple -- and involves a combination of the cost of new tech decreasing over time, while automakers release more and more models, increasing competition and pushing companies to create better-value vehicles.

Read more
Tesla Cybertruck: everything we know
Tesla's Cybertruck.

The Tesla Cybertruck is Tesla's take on an electric truck, and boy has it had a controversial first few years. The truck was first announced back in 2019 -- complete with broken window... during a demo showing how strong the windows were supposed to be. When the truck finally started rolling out to customers in 2023, it did so very slowly -- and was soon subject of a recall.

We're now almost a year into Cybertrucks on the streets, and if you live in a major U.S. city, it's entirely possible that you've seen one in the flesh. If you have, you know that it's completely unlike anything else on the road right now, and represents Tesla's vision of the future of personal transportation.

Read more
BMW’s EVs trace their roots to this innovative 1972 prototype
BMW 1602 Electric.

In the 1960s, when the electric car looked more like a far-fetched science fair experiment than a relatively convenient way of moving people and goods, investing in electrification made little sense. And yet, it's the early, rudimentary prototypes that paved the road for the current crop of EVs. For example, BMW displayed a stunning amount of foresight when it built a pair of electric 1602s and tested them during a major sporting event.

BMW launched this ambitious project in 1969 and planned to have a running prototype ready in time for the 1972 Olympic Games, which were set to take place in its hometown of Munich, Germany. Developing an electric car from scratch was ruled out for cost reasons.

Read more