Fans of 007 will soon be able to get behind the wheel of their very own Bond car. Aston Martin plans to start producing the DBS, the car that will star in the forthcoming film Casino Royale. About 300 will be made and production will begin next summer.

Aston Martin says the car will contain elements of the DB9 road car and its DBR race car. It will cost between £150,000 and £170,000 — considerably more than the £107,000 price of the DB9 coupé.

Ulrich Bez, chief executive of Aston Martin, said the car would be launched at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January or at the Geneva Motor Show in March. The DBS will share the DB9’s V12 engine but exact details of the specification and performance are being kept under wraps until the launch.

“We originally developed the DBS for us rather than for Bond but the timing was right for Bond to use the car,” said Bez.

Aston Martin has been linked with James Bond ever since the DB5 was driven by Sean Connery in Goldfinger in 1964.

Bentley redoes the Continental

Bentley is secretly working on a sporty coupé that will cost almost as much as a Rolls-Royce Phantom. Sources at the company’s Crewe factory say the £200,000 four-seater hard top will go on sale next summer. The car has yet to be named, although Bentley is believed to be searching for a title to reflect the marque’s connection with the Le Mans 24-hour race.

Based on the current Arnage saloon, the coupé will replace the sleek and very quick Continental T that went out of production in 2002 and aims to recapture its spirit. It will come with the same choice of two V8 engines that power the Arnage and the new Azure convertible, with the more powerful of the units set to be boosted from 450bhp to 500bhp.

Le Mans diesel challenge

Audi is tipped to become the first manufacturer to win the Le Mans 24-hour race next weekend with a diesel-powered car.

The German company has entered two R10 cars in the endurance race and its lead team of former Le Mans winner Allan McNish and seven-time winner Tom Kristensen is favourite to win.

New rules have made it possible for diesel cars to overcome their natural power disadvantage by using bigger engines.

The R10, which has a 650bhp V12 engine, has already seized victory in the Sebring 12-hour race in the United States in March.