Aston Martin and Mercedes 'to strike €300m deal'

CAR Online today lifts the lid on the secret deal – codenamed Romeo and Juliet – being hammered out between Aston Martin and Mercedes-Benz. We have sensational details of the alliance, including a plan for hybrid Aston Martins, the full range of proposed Lagonda models and even a possible DB10 and 4x4 from the Aston Martin Lagonda stable.

Back in August 2008, we revealed how the British sports car maker was in talks with the German giant over future cooperation (read our original Aston-Merc scoop here). Now we publish the latest news on a wide-ranging €300 million (£240m) deal that could see Gaydon and Stuttgart work much more closely together.

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Maybach 62S (2007) CAR review

What’s this – more power for the plutocrats?

In a word, yes. The £341,585 Maybach 62S - the S stands for Special, should you be wondering – gets the same mighty 6.0-litre twin turbo V12 as last year’s 52S, which dishes up a barely believable 612bhp at a very low 4800rpm. The torque figure is even more impressive – between 2000-4000rpm there’s a massive 738lb ft on tap. As well as the bonus 74lb ft and 45bhp, your extra £81,085 pays for bigger 19-inch alloys shod with Michelin run-flats, revised front and rear aprons, a raft of minor style changes, a solid paintjob (no more eye-watering two-toners at last) and some mightily impressive chunky exhausts pipes.

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Maybach at the crossroads (2007)

Maybach: hit or flop?

Maybach is going back to the drawing board to fix sluggish sales. The true sales figures for the Maybach brand have over the past 18 months become one of the best-kept corporate secrets at DaimlerChrysler. On the internet, there are currently 60 new and used cars being advertised across Europe - among them a barely run-in ’06 model with 5000 miles on the clock offered at a 55 percent discount. According to trade estimates, last year’s production totalled a rather pathetic 280 units.

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