What do you think of when you think of Bond? A suave British icon? Sexy theme tunes? Box office records?
Undoubtedly, cars will feature somewhere on that list. And more specifically, you will probably picture an Aston Martin. The iconic DB5 is the car most people associate with Bond, and it is easy to see why. The British car oozes style and class – the perfect 007 vehicle.
While this might seem like a dream match of man and machine, James Bond has actually driven many different makes and models, from mid-range to luxury, and not all of them are British. In fact, over the years, he’s gotten behind the wheels of American, Japanese, German and French cars, speeding onto our screens in a range of desirable, iconic and sometimes surprising vehicles. No matter where the car comes from though, it has to be stylish enough to display his cool masculinity, but also powerful enough to be used in those all important high-speed chases.
Despite Bond’s enduring success, not all of his vehicles have set the box office alight. Car Loan 4U looked at the many Bond vehicles, and studied the ticket sales of each film, to discover which cars drive Bond to the top of the box office. For the last few films, Bond has returned to his British roots with the ever popular Aston Martin DB5, and has been rewarded with huge ticket sales. As you can see from the infographic below, apart from a couple of films such as Diamonds are Forever, Bond drives British in all the most successful releases. While Bond has driven other British models besides the Aston Martin – such as a Range Rover, and Lotus Esprit Turbo – it is the Aston Martin which is most associated with 007’s success.
What the stats prove though, is that Bond is at his best when he drives British.
