Aston Martin ended Vanquish’s production in 2007. But rumors about a successor for the supercar started to circulate even before the car ended its life. And today TopSpeed brings you a rendering of how the successor may look like.
With design clearly inspired by the 2008 DBS, the future Vanquish will be even more aggressive and sportier than its predecessor.
Under the hood Aston Martin will place an even more powerful engine, probably the same used in the DBS, with output going up to 500 hp (currently model has an output of 460 hp) and maybe at 550 hp for the Vanquish S version (up from the current 520 hp).
The body will be made of carbon fiber to reduce weight and increase performances, so that the 0 to 60 mph sprint to be made in around 4 seconds and the top speed to go up to 190 mph for the standard version and at more than 200 mph for the S version.
We know gas is very expensive this days, but from here to convert a car on running on wine, well is a pretty long way to go! But when you are a great person, a prince for example, you can afford pretty much everything!
Prince Charles decided to convert his 38-year-old Aston Martin to run on bio-ethanol made from English wine!
Converting the Aston Martin played a small but symbolic role. The Prince’s chief aide Sir Michael Peat said: ’Charles only traveled two or three hundred miles a year in the Aston but he wanted it to be environmentally friendly. It just happened that our bioethanol supplier makes the fuel from surplus English wine.’
The car - which is kept at Highgrove and clocks up just 300 miles a year - averages ten miles a gallon, the equivalent of 4.5 bottles of wine for every mile.
Aston Martin unveiled the V12 Vantage RS Concept at the end of 2007 and announced a production version will soon follow. First rumors suggest that it will make its world debut this year at the British Motor Show, but considering the car is still under development we won’t see it until early 2009.
AutoCar’s sources said that the production version will stay faithful to the concept as much as possible, but will be changed so it can be homologated for real-world use.
Under the hood there will be a 6.0-litre V12 engine that will produce around 550 hp. The Vantage V12 production version will also borrow bigger carbon ceramics brakes from the DBS.
Dave Richards smashed any rumors and confirmed that Aston Martin is not for sale. "The company is not for sale," Richards insisted during the Nurburgring 24-hour race last weekend, where Aston’s N24 Vantages finished 1-2-3 in their class.
"This speculation is only there because we are talking to people all the time about engines," Richards said. "But we are always talking to people, and it doesn’t mean we’re for sale."
The company also announced that in the future Aston Martin’s models could be powered by Mercedes-Benz engines. “We are guaranteed engine supply by Ford until 2012 and we are talking to Mercedes, but then we are talking to Ford and we talk to everybody,” Richards said.
This time it wasn’t an accident! Bond and his crew crashed the DBS deliberate this time, to show the fate that awaits 007’s wheels in the movie.
Shooting on the upcoming James Bond adventure "Quantum of Solace" continued in and around the mountains of Carrara in Italy today, for a scene which will have 007’s Aston Martin DBS crash in to a marble quarry. The real-life marble basin location in Fantiscritti has been a quarry for generations, but workers put excavations on hold for a day whilst the Bond crew deliberately wrecked some vehicles
Bond is chased by villains in Alfa Romeos around the banks of Lake Garda, culminating in a devastating crash in the Canalgrande and Fantiscritti marble quarries. The action will form the pre-credits sequence to the movie and is expected to run for 15 minutes.
Aston Martin’s V8 Vantage – originally launched to widespread critical acclaim at the Geneva Motor Show in 2005 – is to receive significant technical enhancements, reaffirming the car’s position as one of the world’s most desirable and exhilarating sports cars.
While the universally distinctive and award-winning shape of the V8 Vantage is retained, the car benefits from a number of technical changes which include significantly up-rated engine performance from a new 4.7 litre power unit in both Coupe and Roadster variants. Other changes include revised dynamics to take full advantage of increased power and torque availability, improved Sportshift™ transmission software and a new sports suspension option.
The 4.7 litre V8 engine has a power output of 420bhp (an 11% increase on the previous 4.3 litre unit) and delivers peak torque of 470Nm (15% increase), providing the V8 Vantage with new reserves of mid-range performance, an improved 0-60mph time of 4.7 seconds and top speed of 180mph (288kph). Combined European fuel economy and CO2 emissions are also improved by 13% (Sportshift™).
Aston Martin’s growing presence on the track continues with the announcement that the British marque will be represented at this year’s ADAC Nürburgring 24-hour race on 24/25 May with a DBRS9 and two Vantage N24s.
Aston Martin Salzburg-Wien-Geneve is entering a DBRS9 which will be supported by Aston Martin Racing and driven by Aston Martin Racing works drivers Tomas Enge (Czech Republic) and Stefan Mücke (Germany). The DBRS9 driving squad will be completed by Austrians Robert Lechner and Karl Wendlinger.
Joining the DBRS9, Aston Martin will debut a technically enhanced version of the V8 Vantage N24, piloted by Aston Martin Chief Executive Officer, Dr Ulrich Bez, factory development drivers Chris Porritt and Wolfgang Schuhbauer, and experienced race driver and journalist Richard Meaden. A second factory entered Vantage N24 will be driven by journalists Matthew Marsh and Shin-ichi Katsura, partnered by ex-Porsche SuperCup racer Oliver Mathai.
Since the first auction in 2000, the specialist auctioneer Bonhams has sold more than £14m worth of Aston Martins and related automobilia often at record-breaking levels. In 2007 a 1970 Aston Martin DB6 Mk2 Volante sympathetically restored by Works Service achieved a record price of £430,500.
The continued success of the event has been due to the number of interesting cars with fascinating histories that are presented for auction. This year is no exception with a record 41 cars entered into the auction; amongst the most notable being lot 345 a 1961 Aston Martin DB4 GT Coupé, arguably the most sought after of the David Brown Aston Martin road cars.
”We are delighted that the Bonhams’ auction at Aston Martin has become such a prominent fixture on the international calendar of classic car sales,” said Kingsley Riding-Felce, Aston Martin’s Director of Works Service and Customer Care. “We’ve hosted the event at Newport Pagnell for the past eight years with a growing number of owners and enthusiasts from around the world joining us. The success grows each year and this year’s record list of entrants promises to give us yet another exceptional year.”
There are rumors for long time now that Aston Martin is working on a supercar that will compete with Bugatti Veyron or Mercedes SLR. But there is nothing out there to confirm the rumors.
Sabino Leerentveld, a Dutch designer, imagined how a supercar from Aston Martin might look like.
The supercar will be powered by a tuned version of the 6.0-litre V12 engine producing more than 700bhp.
InsideLine caught the 2010 Aston Martin Rapide testing on the Nürburgring test track in Germany. The lack of a cover reveals an interesting new design twist — a roof that’s nearly all glass. There are a few pieces of equipment attached to this particular prototype, but it’s a relatively unobstructed design otherwise.
The 2010 Rapide will be powered by the same 5,935cc V12 as the DB9 that will deliver around 500 hp.
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