According to Joel Feder (the man who took these photos), the incident happened at the Midwestern Automotive Media Association earlier this week when a thunderstorm followed by hail and strong winds took down a tree that landed right on the parked Aston Martin and Bentley.
The company said that the Rapide will reach buyers and Aston Martin's 125 showrooms in 34 countries over the next few weeks.
The British firm said that the Rapide race car will be very close to the production model with changes including the addition of essential race safety modifications, the removal of the interior trim to reduce weight and a retuned suspension. It will also run on slick tires designed for track use.
Aston Martin's four-door, high-performance sport saloon is powered solely by a mighty 6.0-liter V12 engine, the same one found in the DB9.
It produces a peak power of 477-horsepower and 443 lb-ft of torque, enough to propel the four-seater Rapide from zero to 60mph in 5.1 seconds and on to a maximum speed of 188mph or 303 km/h. Watch the Rapide in action in the video after the jump.
And with 120 high-resolution photos of the British sports saloon in four different shades (Hardly Green, Magma Red, Quantum Silver and Silver Blonde) and in all kinds of poses and settings, we reckon that you'll feel pretty 'joyous' after you check out our gallery below.
The new Aston Martin Rapide four-door sports saloon will go on sale in the UK in the first quarter of 2010 with prices starting from £139,950 (US$232,800 or €154,000 at today's exchange rates), the British automaker announced today. In comparison, the Rapide's closest rival, the 500-horsepower Porsche Panamera Turbo is priced at £95,258 in the UK.
The Rapide is powered by a 6.0-liter V12 engine that cranks out 477-horsepower and 600 Nm (443 lb-ft) of peak torque, and is connected to a six-speed Touchtronic 2 automatic transmission with steering-wheel mounted paddle shifters.
Aston Martin said that the Rapide's will come equipped with many standard features including a Bang & Olufsen Beosound audio system tailored specifically for the car, heated memory seats, dual cast brakes and Adaptive Damping System.
Customer deliveries will start at the beginning of the second quarter of 2010 with Aston Martin anticipating to produce around 2,000 units in the first year.
The Rapide is the firm's first sports car to be built outside the UK, as production will take place at the Magna Steyr factory in Graz, Austria. According to Aston Martin, each Rapide will take approximately 220 man hours to build.
The Brits sure took their time but Aston Martin has finally dropped a comprehensive image gallery and detailed specs of its new high performance Rapide sports sedan onto the web. A similar but much better looking proposal to the Porsche Panamera, the Rapide was introduced in production form at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September and is expected to reach dealerships early next year.For the time being, the somewhat cramped four seater with the 301 liters of boot capacity will be offered exclusively with Aston Martin's hand-built 6.0-litre V12 engine that produces 477-horsepower at 6,000 rpm and 600 Nm (443 lb-ft) of peak torque at 5,000 rpm.
A specifically tuned six-speed Touchtronic 2 automatic transmission that allows the driver to change gear automatically or manually through the steering column-mounted magnesium paddles sends power to the rear wheels.
According to Aston Martin's claims, the Rapide can accelerate from standstill to 60mph in 5.1 seconds (0-100 km/h: 5.3 seconds) and reach an estimated maximum speed of 188 mph or 303 km/h.
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