JAMES BOND’S ASTON MARTIN DBS IN AUSTRALIA

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Aston Martin has announced that Daniel Craig will drive its new DBS in the next James Bond film, scheduled for release next November (working title: ‘Bond 22’). The Aston DBS is the car that debuted in ‘Casino Royale’ last year with Craig at the wheel; in one memorable stunt scene, the car rolls seven times, making a Guinness world record.

The car companies and the product placement firms that represent them line up every time a Bond film is in play. The franchise is a big fish in the world of product placement. It draws both money and unseen prototypes out of the design studios, cars that otherwise are not on the table for other films, no matter how big. Such is the Bond mystique vis-a-vis cars.

James Bond has driven other brands -- even a Toyota, when he was in Japan for ‘You Only Live Twice’ (1967) -- but mostly he has been associated with storied English brands. The most glaring recent exception was when Pierce Brosnan drove a BMW Z3 in ‘GoldenEye’ (1995), providing the franchise the chance to introduce a new Bond with a new car. BMW even produced ads for ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’ (1997) using the film’s logo, a first that must have upset even the queen.

When Craig became Bond, many speculated that he would be given a new ride, just as Brosnan was, to differentiate him from his predecessors and to add promo money and advertising dollars to the studio’s coffers. There were a few deals on the table, but the decision was made to reaffirm the Bond heritage as the producers ushered in the Craig era. One important way to do that was to use a signature weapon as important as 007’s Walther PPK: his Aston Martin. Tempting financial offers were spurned in favor of a character-driven decision to enrich the film, to which both Her Royal Highness and I say, ‘Bravo!’

Some cars in the new film will be part of placement deals: Keep watching my blog for that story, which I’m not allowed to speak of yet. (Only the producers, the manufacturer, the queen and I know.) I will tell you, however, that the royal, she is not displeased.

-- Josh Hancock