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Aston Martin has revealed a limited-edition car called the Valour.It’s meant to celebrate the automaker’s 110th anniversary, and only 110 units will be produced.The Valour has a 705-hp twin-turbo V-12 engine and a six-speed manual transmission.Discretion is definitely not the better part of this Valour. Aston Martin’s latest special is a limited edition to celebrate the British sports-car maker’s 110th anniversary, and it draws plenty of inspiration from the brand’s past. But while the Valour looks spectacular in these first official pictures, it definitely isn’t subtle thanks to the combination of macho styling and V-12 performance. Another welcome retro detail: it has a manual gearbox.The Valour’s spectacular styling is the work of a team led by Miles Nurnberger, Aston’s director of design and the man who also created the very different CC100 which Aston created to celebrate its 100th anniversary. While the CC100 was a barely-there speedster, the Valour is a muscular coupe, one with a design that draws obvious influence from the square-rigged V8 Vantage that Aston produced between 1977 and 1989. It also bears a striking resemblance to the one-off Victor that Aston Martin’s Q division created in 2020, which was based on the track-only One-77.The heritage inspiration is obvious in both the car’s muscular stance and proportions, but also details such as the shape of the headlights and taillights—now modern LED units—and the twin NACA ducts on the bonnet. At the rear, the car’s trunklid rises into a steeply raked integral ski-ramp Kamm tail and it also has what initially looks to be that most Seventies of styling details, a louvered rear screen. It isn’t exactly that, however, as there are no gaps and no glazing. Instead, rear vision is handled by a camera system. Exterior bodywork is made entirely from carbon fiber.Power comes from a version of the 5.2-liter V-12 from the outgoing DBS Superleggera. This makes 705 horsepower and 555 pound-feet of torque, numbers which look relatively modest compared with the DBS 770 Ultimate’s version of this engine that was rated at 759 hp and 654 pound-feet. That’s because of the arrival of the new six-speed manual gearbox, a serious technical challenge. Like all larger Aston GTs, the Valour uses a rear-mounted transmission. By our reckoning, this is the first time Aston has given a stick shift to one of its “torque tube” models since the manual option was dropped on the DB9 for the 2013 model year.We don’t have any performance numbers or a weight figure yet, but the Valour seems likely to post similar numbers to the DBS Superleggera that lurks underneath. That would mean a 60 mph run in the mid-3.0-second range and a top speed north of 200 mph.The new gearbox is controlled by a beautiful new wood and metal selector that sits within a carbon-fiber surround in the center of the cabin. But the switchgear around this makes clear that the Valour uses Aston’s existing cabin architecture rather than its spiffy new one. The buttons on the console come from the soon-to-retire Vantage, as do the heating and ventilation dials. That also means the Valour will be the last Aston Martin product launched without a touchscreen interface. Instead, the center screen is controlled by an old-fashioned turn-and-click controller.There are plenty of other exquisite details to like in the cabin, especially the show car’s handsome tweed fabric. The material choice is apparently inspired by the one used in the 1959 DBR1 race car that won the Le Mans 24 Hours race. Buyers will be able to choose between 21 standard exterior colors, but if none appeal then Aston’s Q Division will be happy to create a one-off shade in exchange for a substantial uplift in price.Not that any Valour will be cheap. Aston says that pricing starts at £830,000 before taxes—over $1 million at current exchange rates—but a high level of the bespoke optioning the car has been designed to encourage will drive that up substantially. Only 110 will be produced for all global markets, with the entire run already allocated to customers. Aston says that cars coming to the U.S. will have full federal homologation. Customer deliveries will start in the final quarter of this year.Senior European CorrespondentMike Duff has been writing about the auto industry for two decades and calls the UK home, although he normally lives life on the road. He loves old cars and adventure in unlikely places, with career highlights including driving to Chernobyl in a Lada. More

Pininfarina has revealed a special limited-edition variant of its wild all-electric Battista hypercar called the Edizione Nino Farina. Limited to just five examples, it’s a tribute to the very first Formula 1 world champion, Giuseppe “Nino” Farina.Nino Farina, nephew of Pininfarina founder Battista “Pinin” Farina, took the inaugural Formula 1 title in 1950 behind the wheel of an Alfa Romeo. The five cars dedicated to his legacy pay tribute to an achievement in Farina’s career through specific doorsill plates and sport a unique design making them easily identifiable.All about the BattistaOutside you’ll find a Rosso Nino paint job, with touches of black, white, and blue scattered throughout. There are also gold wheels and “01” decals on either side of the car. In the cabin there are contrasting seats made from “sustainable” leather, black for the driver and beige for the passenger. The seats also get Alcantara trim and “Nino Farina” inscriptions. The Edizione Nino Farina’s powertrain is unchanged from the normal Battista, meaning four independent electric motors—one for each wheel—powered by a T-shaped battery pack mounted centrally between and behind the driver compartment. Combined, the motors make a staggering 1900 hp and 1725 lb-ft of torque, enough for a claimed 60-mph time of 1.79 seconds and a top speed of 217 mph. The Battista can rip the quarter-mile in just 8.55 seconds, quick enough to hold the world record until Rimac’s Nevera took that crown back in May. The Battista Edizione Nino Farina will make its debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, happening July 13–16. It will be driven up the hill by former F1 driver and former Goodwood Hill-Climb champion Nick Heidfeld. Road & Track staff writer with a taste for high-mileage, rusted-out projects and amateur endurance racing. More

Audi is honoring 150 years since manufacturing began in Neckarsulm, which has gone from building knitting machines to hosting the assembly of the Audi A4, among other models.For the anniversary, Audi had its trainees turn a 1971 NSU Prinz 4 into an electric sports car, widening the square body and adding modern touches like LED lighting.In place of the two-cylinder engine, the apprentices fitted a 240-hp electric motor from an Audi e-tron, hooked up to the battery from a plug-in-hybrid Q7 SUV.If you have fond memories of nerdy school science projects like we do, then just wait until you see the awesome project recently given to 12 Audi apprentices. A set of trainees were tasked with creating an electric restomod to honor the 150th anniversary of Audi’s factory site in Neckarsulm, Germany, which originally produced knitting machines in 1873. The eye-catching result, the Audi EP4 concept, was revealed this past weekend.AudiThe project began in January with a 1971 NSU Prinz 4 that had been sitting, neglected, for decades. NSU was a German automaker subsumed by Volkswagen in 1969 before being merged with Auto Union to create the Audi brand we know today. The Prinz was assembled in Neckarsulm from 1961 until 1973, making it the perfect canvas for the celebratory reinterpretation. While the boxy shape and strong beltline of the original Prinz remains, the details have been thoroughly reworked. The circular headlights were swapped for oval LED units, while the front bumper gained a splitter and a large intake feeding air through a vent in the hood. Signal Yellow accents pop against the Suzuka Grey paint, and the rear wing sprouting from the back edge of the roof is mounted not to the body but to the roll cage itself, with the wing supports passing through the rear window.AudiAlong with fixing rust spots in the body and solidifying the 50-year-old chassis, the trainees also tore out the original 30-hp two-cylinder gasoline engine from the rear compartment and replaced it with a 240-hp electric motor from a 2020 Audi e-tron. While the weight of the motor rests in the rear of the car, the battery balances it out by residing under the hood where the fuel tank originally lived. The apprentices took the 17.9-kWh battery from a plug-in-hybrid Audi Q7 SUV. All of this extra power required some structural modifications. The floor plan, including the brakes and axles, were borrowed from an Audi A1, and the wider fenders were 3D-printed to house the old-school white wheels and sticky performance rubber. The trunk can also be set to a half-open position to allow cool air to enter while also serving to show off the electric powertrain. The EP4 concept has no bearing on any future Audis, but the neat project car shows the promise of the next generation of Audi designers and engineers.More Electric RestomodsThis content is imported from poll. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.Associate News EditorCaleb Miller began blogging about cars at 13 years old, and he realized his dream of writing for a car magazine after graduating from Carnegie Mellon University and joining the Car and Driver team. He loves quirky and obscure autos, aiming to one day own something bizarre like a Nissan S-Cargo, and is an avid motorsports fan. More

Porsche has updated its Apple CarPlay support, integrating My Porsche features directly into the Apple software.Users can now change features including sound profiles, climate control, and ambient lighting with the Porsche app while using Apple CarPlay.The updated software is available now in the Porsche Cayenne, with plans to roll the changes out to other models soon.Apple CarPlay just got a little more useful for Porsche owners. Underscoring further just how much owners prefer third-party software like CarPlay over the native manufacturer systems, Porsche has updated its My Porsche app software, allowing for further support within Apple CarPlay. Users can now make changes to things that would otherwise only be controlled by the manufacturer software. That means things like cabin sound profiles, climate control, and ambient lighting in the cabin can now be changed directly from Apple CarPlay menus.The new functions can also be added to new “wellness modes” like Relax, Warmup, and Refresh, all using CarPlay. Possibly the most exciting part of the update comes from the ability to use voice activation and Siri for things like changing climate control or radio settings.PorscheThe added level of integration comes on the heels of a similar update Porsche launched in May. In that update, Porsche added support for finding EV chargers in the native Apple Maps software for the Taycan. The updated system allows users to view things like the vehicle’s state of charge (SOC), expected traffic conditions, and average speed, in Apple Maps, rather than the built-in Porsche version. Owners can activate the new feature with a QR code in the PCM (Porsche Communication Manager). The updated software is free and available now for the new Cayenne SUV. Porsche promises to roll the new version to more models in the future. More Porsche NewsAssociate News EditorJack Fitzgerald’s love for cars stems from his as yet unshakable addiction to Formula 1. After a brief stint as a detailer for a local dealership group in college, he knew he needed a more permanent way to drive all the new cars he couldn’t afford and decided to pursue a career in auto writing. By hounding his college professors at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, he was able to travel Wisconsin seeking out stories in the auto world before landing his dream job at Car and Driver. His new goal is to delay the inevitable demise of his 2010 Volkswagen Golf. More