Who was Aston Martin trying to kid when it announced the
Vanquish Zagato
as a concept? Nobody. Of course it was going to be built. And now we have confirmation of the fact, a limited run of just 99 cars announced for production at Gaydon and have been sold at an undisclosed price. Given the previous V12 Zagato went for just shy of £400K when launched and the
only one for sale
on PH at the current time is up for £550,000 we'll take a punt on this one being at least half a million.
Worth two, possibly three, times the price of
the Vanquish
on which it is based? Performance-wise a light tickle from 578hp to 600hp for the 6.0-litre V12 isn't too dramatic, ditto the single tenth off the 'projected' 3.5-second 0-62mph time.
Plenty to be going on with but numbers aren't really the thing with this car - it's all about the Zagato enhanced looks. Out of the studio and in something close to that there real world the styling appears a good deal more resolved too, blending as it does the current Aston Martin aesthetic embodied by the Vanquish and the new-school design of the pending DB11. As such the Zagato acts as a bridge between the two, throwing in some references to previous Aston concepts like the CC100 (the side strake) and specials like the One-77, which donates its wing mirrors.
There's more than a little Vulcan in it too, most notably in the stunning rear lamps that appear the physical embodiment of streaks of light from a fast-moving vehicle. Inside it's suitably voluptuous too, 'Z' quilting, herringbone carbon fibre and bronze anodised aluminium all combined in suitably eye-catching style. It's a more luxuriously appointed car than the previous V12 Vantage, which adopted a racier, more aggressive demeanor underpinned by participation in the Nurburgring 24-hour.
Arguably that role is now occupied by other specials like the GT12 and GT8, leaving the new Zagato to take a more luxurious path in keeping with the Villa d'Este unveiling. Busy times indeed for Aston but if it results in cars like this few complaints are likely.