Seen on testing on the road, the Aston Martin mule seem to sport the side skirts of the Vantage but looks more aggressive with its vented hood, carbon fiber lip spoiler, rear diffuser, and rear spoiler. It actually features a mix of the V8 and V12 Vantage.

What is under the hood is not clear. It could be a V-12 powerplant which can muscle its way through the cold weather environment. It could also be a V-8 Vantage with more aggressive exteriors.

It could not be a new engine under the hood since it is too soon since the V8 got its beefing up for the 2009 model. It got a steroid boost coming from 4.3L with an output of 380 horsepower to a 4.7L monster with 420 horsepower. The V-12, meanwhile is still staying put with its 510 horsepower output. It will still be a few years before we see Aston Martin bolting a new engine to the Vantage.

The spied Aston Martin Vantage also has a new 19-inch 10 spoke wheels and seat upgrades which makes the car lighter by about 35 pounds. The sound system also goes boom with a Bang & Olufsen 1,000-watt stereo system.

There is an Aston Martin driving course in Michigan in North America which has been running for four years now. The other two courses are in the United Kingdom and Belgium. Interested drivers can pay a fee of $2,500 for a one day course using any Aston Martin model from their current fleet.

The car manufacturer has also hired a driving administrator to assist the enrollees during the training. Aston Martin’s driving program provides one on one instruction to help drivers improve their skills behind the steering wheel.

The course involves a two-fold training which includes theories and practice. The training subjects the students to different environments where they can try to master their skills on high speed driving. The course hones their skills on car dynamics, handling, power delivery, and braking.

Aston Martin hopes that by opening the driving school to everyone, more people will appreciate their brand and let other people know about how their cars perform. If the program will be successful Aston Martin will launch more schools to boost their marketing.

So far Aston Martin owners who have enrolled act as ambassadors of the brand knowing how their improved knowledge helped with their skills on everyday driving.

Bernie Ecclestone, the F1 tycoon, revealed that Aston Martin will join the championship and will be welcomed as manufacturer entrant. Aston Martin will technically join F1 by next year under the banner of Prodrive. The rebranding to Aston Martin will happen by 2012.

The Aston Martin has collaborations with the McLaren F1 but the executives from Prodrive emphasized that the F1 car will be genuinely Aston Martin.

The budget cap proposal of Max Mosley served as catalyst to the entry of Aston Martin to F1. The issue resulted to threats from various manufacturers to withdraw from F1. The cap also triggered the interest of other manufacturers should it be enforced.

The budget cap is planned to be set to $50 million for every team. This opens the barriers for other manufacturers to enter the F1 scenario, deemed to be the ultimate of motorsport.

Aside from Aston Martin, USGPE and Lola are vying for the three spots on the 2010 F1 grid. There are also rumors that Hyundai and Kia formed an alliance to put a race car on the track. When the red lights go out on the 2010 F1 season, there will be 26 cars on the grid from 13 teams.

The Cygnet will have a different look as it carries the Aston Martin badge. According to insiders, the car is being designed for European consumers and can be clearly differentiated from its older sibling the iQ minicar. Aston Martin has not given a hint about its price and production volumes.

The Toyota iQ from which the Cygnet will be based is powered by a 3-cylinder engine and has the 5-star seal of safety from the Euro NCAP. Most attributes of the iQ will be retained in the Cygnet but we can expect the latter to have the feel of luxury of an Aston Martin interior.

The CEO of Aston Martin, Ulrich Bez discussed with the media that the Cygnet still needs a lot of work and the car manufacturer is really excited as it goes into production in the near future.

The partnership between Aston Martin and Toyota was forged so the former can use the technology of the Japanese automaker to meet the fuel efficiency requirements set by European laws that will take effect by 2012.

Aston Martin and other low volume car manufacturers like Lamborghini and Ferrari face a great challenge to meet the tougher fuel and emission regulations. These three car firms produce powerful cars with higher than the standard CO2 emissions. Aston Martin though does not have the luxury of leveling their emissions with a parent company like the Fiat and VW for Ferrari and Lamborghini.

By the way, the Cygnet will only be sold to those who already has an Aston Martin in their garage.

Aston Martin though is not sure if consumers in the United States will be able to experience in real life the difference between the sister V8 Vantage and the big bro V12 Vantage. They might be producing only 1000 units of the car and it might not be cost effective to redesign it to meet the tough crash safety regulations in the U.S.

It is not the end of the story though since Aston Martin is still studying the case. They might give in to a high demand but nothing is for certain yet.

The V12 Vantage is the fastest in the Aston Martin fleet with its power coming from a V12 5.9L that boasts of 510hp. It was originally designed to take a V8 and the V12 engine takes much of the space which should be reserved for crumple zones in case of a crash. Another problem is meeting the pedestrian crash safety requirements. The shell seats made of carbon fiber also does not meet the U.S. standards.

The V12 Vantage can zoom from 0 to 100 in a mere 4.2 seconds. It is a fraction of a second quicker than the DBS. It has a whopping top speed of 305km/h that is reached with a manual six speed gearbox. Who would want to miss that? Well, Aston Martin has not decided yet and North American consumers can still hope that V12 Vantage will be available to them.

A top down Roadster variant of the V12 Vantage is also on the works. Another piece of art to drool about.