



We'd got rather used to positive Aston Martin news recently, what with the Cygnet's demise and the arrival of exciting products such as the

But the jolly mood has been subdued rather by Autocar's news that Aston recorded a £24.9m loss in 2012. You can read the full story on it here, but a predictably large portion of the blame has been attributed to the recession. Aston has also rather ambiguously stated its revenues were affected by 'vehicle launches in the fourth quarter [of 2012]'.

It's therefore unclear whether this means Aston's own launches (see the Vanquish in November 2012) or those of its rivals; the Bentley Continental GT Speed, for example, arrived in October last year.

Either way, the news is rather disappointing, and hopefully a situation that can be rectified through the AMG collaboration. Read more about the German side of that deal in our interview with outgoing AMG boss Ola Kallenius. On a more positive note, Dan is driving the V12 Vantage S and the Vanquish Volante next week. In America. What was that about expensive vehicle launches?

[Sources: Autocar]