When Aston Martin announced it would be auctioning its ultra rare DB10 sports car, star of James Bond’s latest runabout Spectre, the U.K. automaker estimated $1.4 million would be raised for charity with the sale.
To the gleeful surprise of Aston Martin and Médecins sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders), the non-road-legal sports car netted $3.5 million (2.4 million British pounds) at Christie’s auction in London yesterday evening. In addition to the vehicle’s sale, an extra half-million dollars was earned for charities from the sale of Spectre memorabilia.
Aston Martin made just 10 examples of the DB10 for use in shooting Spectre, with the majority of those vehicles being modified to film the movie’s stunts. Only two production units were left untouched, and likely one of those will remain in the brand’s possession. James Bond himself (Daniel Craig) signed the auctioned DB10 before it changed hands.
The DB10 was designed to preview the next generation of the automaker’s design character ahead of the pending reveal of the DB9-replacing DB11 sports car. A naturally-aspirated 4.7-liter V8 engine and six-speed manual gearbox serve up a classic Aston soundtrack and rear-wheel drive performance.
Though grainy leaks of the DB11 have surfaced online, the actual reveal of the brand’s new flagship won’t occur for another two weeks. Having peeked at the production-spec car myself, I can promise fans we’ve got a lot to look forward to, and that’s before the all-new 5.2-liter twin-turbocharged V12 powertrain is addressed.
The engine was built in-house and should deliver about 600 horsepower, but there may also be a lesser twin-turbocharged V8 available, courtesy of Mercedes-AMG. Entry-level power should hover around the 475-horsepower mark, but Aston may decide to up the output to differentiate from Mercedes-Benz models. Look for more DB11 news very shortly, including its global debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March.
BYD has launched the third-generation Qin Plus DM-i in China, and the first thing that caught my eye is its price. According to CarNewsChina, the plug-in hybrid sedan starts at 79,900 yuan, which is about $11,980. That’s an incredibly low price for a brand-new car, especially by US standards.
What’s even more impressive is the range. The Qin Plus DM-i can drive up to 137 miles on electricity alone, which should cover most people’s daily commutes without using a drop of gas. Once the battery runs out, the 1.5-liter engine takes over. Thanks to its 17-gallon tank and roughly 91 mpg with a drained battery, the combined range reaches up to 1,423 miles.
Apple won the PC market’s worst quarter, but that’s not the entire story. It won the race by stumbling less than everyone else.
PC makers shipped just 57 million computers worldwide in Q3, which might look good, but it’s a 21% year-over-year plunge (via Counterpoint Research). And despite Apple’s Mac shipments falling by 11%, to 5.6 million, its market share rose from 8.7% to 9.8%. How did that happen?
Update (October 22 23:54 PT): In response to our query, GM clarified that offline recording support is already available on eligible vehicles. Like Tesla's Sentry Mode, it requires owners to connect a USB drive to save incident recordings, which can be viewed on the vehicle's infotainment screen. The upcoming Connected Cameras feature will build on this by giving owners remote access to these recordings via the revamped OnStar app, allowing them to check footage without walking out to their car.
General Motors has announced plans to add a new Connected Cameras feature to its OnStar service starting next year, giving drivers a way to monitor parked vehicles remotely and capture footage of certain incidents.