Aston Martin has renamed its new track-focused
Vantage GT3
after Porsche cried foul of the use of the GT3 name.
Porsche says 'we own GT3 - hands off!'
The £250,000 Aston, launched in Geneva at the beginning of the month, is now called the Vantage GT12, despite Aston being convinced that Porsche does not own the rights to the GT3 name on road cars.
"Porsche claims it has exclusive rights to use GT3 to describe such road cars for public sale. We don't share their view," Aston Martin said in a statement. But boss Andy Palmer - profiled today on PH - said in a Tweet he didn't want to get involved in a costly legal battle with the VW-owned firm. "We are small independent company and need to spend £ creating the best-of-best cars, not paying lawyers," he said.
Porsche has used the GT3 name since 1999 for its track focused 911 model, and its claim on the name has some credibility in that it pre-dates the GT3 European Championship series, which started in 2006 to allow amateur racers to compete in near-production sports cars.
Aston can race in GT3 but can't name a car after it
But then the name had been used before, specifically by Lotus, which launched the 2-litre turbocharged Esprit GT3 in 1996. And the GT3 name (with an R attached) is also used by Porsche stablemate Bentley for its on hardcore version of the Continental GT.
Whatever the strength of Porsche's claim on the name, its tactics have worked. After all this is a company that last year made £2bn in profit, whereas Aston Martin in all likelihood made a loss, as it did the previous two years. You certainly wouldn't want to go into battle with those financial odds stacked against you.
The Aston statement makes this clear. "Rather than distract ourselves having a naming disagreement with Porsche and the VW Group, we would prefer to focus our energy and investment on the car and on making sure our customers receive the best possible Aston Martin."
Backdated claim against Lotus to follow?
So the car is now called the GT12 after the 600hp V12 engine powering it. All 100 cars were sold before this name storm blew up, but Aston doesn't think owners will mind. "We just informed them at the end of last week and we don't expect anyone to have an adverse reaction," a spokesman said.