Daily News: Monday 11/20/17

2019 Aston Martin Vantage: The New Vantage is Here

For the past few decades, Aston Martin has made two coupes; the DB-series of grand touring V12 powered cars, and the Vantage line of sports cars. Since it’s release, the Vantage has been derided as the ‘Baby Aston’, but people in the know have always known a Aston’s little secret: the ‘Baby’ Vantage was the real drivers car.

Now, Aston Martin has fully revealed their successor to the last Vantage, to join the new addition to the DB series, the DB11. This new Vantage–still called the Vantage–also joins its DB cousin with the addition of two turbos to V8 engine.

This V8, borrowed from Mercedes-AMG, displaces 4.0-liters and feeds 503bhp and 505lb-ft of torque to the rear wheels through a ZF eight-speed automatic transmission. This power is routed to the ground through an Electronic Rear Differential (E-Diff), the first tome such a device has been included in the Vantage line of road cars.

The car rests on Pirelli P Zero tires, Skyhook-powered adaptive suspension, and Dynamic Stability control–connected to the E-Diff–ensuring that the Vantage’s newfound power is manageable in the smaller Vantage platform. All of this means the Vantage can accelerate to 60mph in 3.6seconds, on its way to its top speed of 195mph.

‘Baby’ Aston, indeed.

The new Vantage is on sale now with a starting MSRP of $149,995 in the USA, with deliveries beginning by the end of the year.

Ford Launches First Plug-In Hybrid Police and Government Vehicle

As anyone in the government will tell you, ever cent counts. It is with this mentality that Ford has released their first-ever plug-in hybrid vehicle option for police and government officials. This Special Service Plug-In Hybrid Sedan, based on the Fusion sedan, can travel 21 miles without using a drop of gas.

Those 21 miles will be sedate however, as the Plug-In is not pursuit-rated. For frugal pursuers, Ford does produce their non-Plug-In hybrid version of the Special Service Sedan, which can be used in criminal pursuits.

Customers can order the sedan this December, with sales being confirmed next summer.

Volvo to Supply Thousands of Autonomous-Capable Cars to Uber

Volvo and Uber have signed a framework agreement in which Volvo will supply the ridesharing company with tens of thousands of ‘base’ vehicles equipped with the technology required to enable autonomous driving. These vehicles, either XC90s or XC60s, were jointly developed by Volvo and Uber engineers.

While Uber will use these vehicles for their autonomous ride-sharing ambitions, and hopes to field the technology by 2020, Volvo is also taking advantage of the experience gained from the partnership to develop their own autonomous vehicle program, culminating in their first autonomous vehicle to be released by 2021.