The new Vantage is Aston Martin's "predator"
Erin Baker
“This is our predator; this is our hunter”, said Andy Palmer yesterday, as he unveiled the new Aston Martin Vantage in Gaydon to a handful of journalists ahead of its glitzy London party tonight. “It’s the greatest car I’ve been involved with in the 38 years I’ve been involved in the industry”. Blimey, that’s saying something, from the man who was chief planner at Nissan and has overseen the launch of the DB11 at Aston since he’s been there.
Look at this distinctly simple, clean new sports car from Aston, built to rival the Porsche 911, and you’ll see a striking resemblance between the Vantage and the DB10 that featured in the Bond movie Spectre. That’s no coincidence – when Sam Mendes and Barbara Broccoli visited Aston to talk Bond cars, they saw the sketches for the next Vantage on the wall and said that was what they wanted.
It’s an incredible looking car, because there are no bonnet vents, no scoops, no slats, not even a conventional grille. Instead, the very form of the car acts as all the aero it needs, especially as under the bonnet, the front mid-mounted, 4.0-litre V8 engine is a hot vee, so needs to retain all the hot air pushed towards it instead of having it funnelled away down the sides of the car.
To aid stability, the nose if the lowest of any Aston and there’s an even lower front splitter and rear diffuser plus a svelte, clean lip on the boot. It’s a wonderfully understated, searingly different car from Marek Reichman’s pen.
The engine, which develops 510PS (503bhp) and 685Nm (505lb ft), and shifts the car to 60mph in 3.5 seconds, and the ZF eight-speed auto transmission are carried over from the DB11, as is 30 per cent of the structure, but everything else in the all-aluminium car is new. “Each car has to be different”, Palmer explained. Gone are the Russian-doll days of building several models from one basic car at Aston; Palmer has fought the board to get funding for distinct models. This is the second car in the planned seven, which will include the DBX crossover, a mid-engined model and two Lagondas.
Meanwhile, the Vantage is the first application of Aston’s new e-differential, which can go from fully open to 100 per cent locked in milliseconds and is linked to the electronic stability control system.
Inside, a black moulding hints at the provision of a manual transmission as an option soon. The stitched leather emulates the patterns found in the DB11, while the boot space isn’t bad – mini-breakers will be pleased that they can fit two small suitcases or three leather holdalls side by side.
Aston is currently taking deposits for first deliveries next spring; about 70 per cent of prospective customers invited to take an early look at the car placed an order. The new Vantage is priced from £120,900.
Aston Martin
Vantage
