Aston updates Vanquish flagship
Final 40 examples get a new look
Aston Martin Vanquish S
Just 40 examples of a new Vanquish S Ultimate Edition will be handcrafted at the company’s Newport Pagnell production facility in Buckinghamshire -- and they'll be the last off the line.
The Ultimate Edition centres on changes to the Vanquish S’s renowned colour and trim. On the exterior, these changes include a unique Ultimate Black – a new colour only available with this car. Inside, the Vanquish S cabin is trimmed in a semi-aniline leather, with coarse stitching, leather headlining and black chrome finish interior fittings. Each car will also be fitted with personalised sill plaques denoting the limited edition number.
Performance is the same as the standard Vanquish S, and remains the fastest-ever production Aston Martin, capable of a top speed in excess of 200mph -- and the price is the same too: £182,095.
The Ultimate Edition is an end-of-line model, which Aston said would "be available by special request to customers wishing to celebrate the last of a significant car in Aston Martin’s history." The company reckoned initial feedback suggested the whole allocation of this special edition will be sold within weeks of launch.
Manual shifters
For existing Vanquishes, Aston’s Works Service department is offering a transmission conversion from the car’s existing auto shift manual (ASM) system, to a conventional gearstick manual.
Since its launch in 2001, the Vanquish's auto box has been equipped with paddles that change gears in under 250 milliseconds, and works in either auto or manual mode.
Working in conjunction with the company’s special vehicles operations team from Gaydon, AM said it's Works Service department developed the system over the last 12 months, before previewing the conversion to "selected Vanquish customers".
Customer service manager Kingsley Riding-Felce said: “This project underlines our commitment to adapting to customer requests, whether they are for Aston Martins from the past or modern cars such as the Vanquish S.”
The modification is available now, priced from £13,250 (plus VAT).
About the Vanquish S
Aston Martin's top-end model is built in the company's traditional fashion, by hand, one at a time, with an individual craftsman taking responsibility for the creation of every car. It takes just over 396 man hours to create each car, or around six weeks from raw materials to the finished article.
It houses a 6-litre V12 generating 520bhp and 425lb-ft of torque, enabling the luxury 2+2 to hit 60mph from rest in 4.8 seconds.
In preparation for production of the Vanquish, the factory at Newport Pagnell in Buckinghamshire, England, received a multi-million-pound refurbishment that included an all-new assembly line, paint shop, rolling road and water test facility, which simulates monsoon conditions to ensure a watertight interior. Today, technicians who used to hold old-fashioned welding guns now wield dual-feed adhesive guns to bond together composite components, crash structures and aluminium panels.
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