Car Moon

British sportscar maker Aston Martin has notified the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of a safety recall 1,090 DB9, V8 Vantage and DBS vehicles built between 2007 and 2008.

In a letter sent by Aston Martin to the NHTSA, the British carmaker reported that the camber bolt that holds the front bottom suspension arm was not made to specification and "could crank along its shank" (shaft).

When you think about it, the £160,000 (US$247,000) Aston Martin DBS is a little too common. Sure it's a beautiful machine with a monster V12 under the hood, but everyone and his mother has one these days. Now, what the car connoisseur needs is something a bit rarer; something that's unique. A vehicle with real motoring history coursing through its corroded veins. A fixer upper, even.

Reason says that if you're wealthy enough to buy an Aston Martin DB9 and for whatever reason you want to upgrade to a DBS, you either replace the first one or simply add the second model to your collection. But that wasn't the case with an unnamed Russian owner of a five-year-old DB9 who approached Edo Competition to turn his car into a DBS.

The German tuning house agreed and after six months of work, the DB9 had been transformed into a DBS... replica. The conversion involved replacing the car's steel body panels with lightweight carbon fiber pieces, and adding new 20 inch wheels and numerous aerodynamic parts, such as a carbon fiber front skirt and rear diffuser.

The DB9's interior was also refinished. Edo Competition says that the choice of materials and colors was left to the customer, who, in this case, went for an Alcantara/leather interior with carbon fiber inserts and metal accents. A new high-end audio-system completes the interior makeover.

Apparently edo competition doesn't think 517 horsepower is enough to propel Aston Martin's DBS around. "Not quite enough," as they put it. To remedy the situation, edo did a number on the ECU and breathing situation.

For people new to the tuning concept, that means new air filters, high-flow catalytic converters, and a new remote controlled exhaust system. Result: 550 horsepower and 600 Nm / 442 lb-ft of torque (+30 Nm / 22 lb-ft).

"This is enough power to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 4.1 seconds and continue on to a top speed of 320 km/h (199 mph)." I'll bet it is.

Together with the presentation of the controversial Cygnet mini, Aston Martin also used the Geneva Salon to stage the world debut of a new bespoke service called 'Works Service Tailored' and the special edition DBS UB-2010 that was created to commemorate Dr. Ulrich Bez's 10th year as Chief Executive of the company.

The maker of the Cygnet mini has momentarily returned to the business of making exotic supercars as Aston Martin revealed today a pair of special edition versions of the DBS and V12 Vantage. Called Carbon Black, both models feature a bespoke -you guessed it- Carbon Black metallic finish that takes 50 man-hours of hand painting and quality checks to complete.

Both special editions ride on gloss black 10 spoke diamond turned alloy wheels while the V12 Vantage also gets a carbon fiber side strake over a black mesh vent, a bright finished grille and front parking sensors which are normally an option.