Aston Martin DB9 And Vantage Sales Could Be Blocked, Top Dealer Says

Increasingly-strict crash-test standards have kept several desirable cars away from U.S. shores, and now a top Aston Martin dealer says the British carmaker's wares could be among them. Certain versions of both the Aston Martin DB9 and Vantage won't meet new standards that take effect in September 2015, although the company has asked for exemptions for both models according to Bloomberg.

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If they're not granted, Aston's U.S. dealers could be "in the red," James Walker—chairman of the carmaker's U.S. dealer advisory panel—wrote in a petition to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

The DB9 and Vantage are two of Aston Martin's most popular models, so eliminating some of their sales would have a potentially-devastating effect on U.S. dealers. This problem sometimes occurs when a model is on sale for a long time. Designers can't anticipate every possible crash test a government might implement, and crashworthiness is something that can't really be altered without a full redesign.