V12 Vanquish S
? Another 60hp, a better chassis and revised gearing made for the Aston flagship it always should have been, reflected in their strong values today. Now, nearly a decade after the last Vanquish S was made, it looks like Aston is preparing another.
These shots were taken at Aston's Nurburgring test centre, where the car has presumably been doing a few development laps and road miles. The most obvious external differences are at the rear, where there are now twice the amount of exhausts and a much more aggressive diffuser. Is that front splitter slightly different too? Either way, similarly to the old S, it looks to be a fairly restrained visual enhancement.
Against rivals like the Ferrari F12 and Bentley Continental GT Speed, the Vanquish has always been a little down on power. It seems likely that that will be addressed for the S, but how far can it go? The original Vanquish S added 60hp - applying that to the current car results in 638hp, which is certainly a start. Perhaps a nice round 650hp? With (hopefully) a bit less weight too, it would certainly address any criticisms about the Vanquish's performance.
Given how busy the Aston launch schedule is at the moment - think GT8, GT12 Roadster, V12 Vantage S manual - it will be a little while until we see a production Vanquish S. Rumours are it will appear in 2017, which will be 10 years since the original Vanquish went out of production. We'll keep you posted!
Photos: S. Baldauf/SB-Medien