Aston Martin Vanquish Carbon Edition – costs £200,000

The Aston Martin Vanquish Carbon Edition in Carbon White It’s only a month since the 2015 Aston Martin Vanquish (and Vanquish Volante) were revealed with a series of updates that manage to turn the Vanquish in to a much more appealing car. That new appeal is mainly down to AML finally ditching their ancient six-speed auto ‘box and replacing it with a new 8-Speed ZF ‘box – which cleverly sits inside the old housing – increasing performance, drivability and economy in one fell swoop. The Vanquish now gets to 62mph in a very respectable 3.8 seconds and can top 200mph, despite which official economy improves to 31mpg (more like 16mpg in the real world).

JUNKER KEEPER: Federal database tracks totaled vehicles, clunkers

First, it was the hurricane-damaged used cars flooding the market. Now, it’s the clunkers turned in--and supposedly junked--as part of the federal Cars Allowance Rebate System “cash for clunkers” program. Following Hurricane Katrina, cars declared as total losses in one state were able to get clean titles in other states and were resold to unsuspecting consumers.

Whos Where: Ken Okuyama appointed Creative Director at Pininfarina

The talented Japanese designer Ken Okuyama, who penned the Pininfarina Enzo and 'Rossa' during his days at Pininfarina Studi e Ricerche, is going back to the famous Italian coachbuilder, after completing his experience as Chair of the Transportation Design Department at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. He is expected back as Creative Director of the Pininfarina Spa group as of May 10th. There he will be reporting, as before his departure, to Lorenzo Ramaciotti, Executive Vice President Design .