RE: Aston Vanquish 25 by CALLUM revealed
Discussion
£550k and it’s still got the worst thing about the standard car...the really s
t “flappy paddle” gearbox. The interior is gash. It’s the wrong price by a factor of two or three. But there are probably 30 to 40 Aston collectors who want one of everything....so you are almost guaranteed to be able to sell these.
t “flappy paddle” gearbox. The interior is gash. It’s the wrong price by a factor of two or three. But there are probably 30 to 40 Aston collectors who want one of everything....so you are almost guaranteed to be able to sell these. I'm ambivalent about the exterior changes. I'm definitely at the starting point of a previous poster who said the Vanquish is the best looking Aston of the last 20 years - it's a timeless design, muscular but elegant, Mess with it at your peril.
I'm less ambivalent about the interior changes. I know the original was a compromise born of necessity and being part of the Premier Automotive Group, but this is in no way an improvement (I know, colour me a car design guru...). It looks.... well, to start with, more bling and messy than Aston's current output, which is saying something...it's a bit...sofa warehouse?
Whatever happened to that sweetspot Aston hit of restrained, classy, understated elegance?
I'm less ambivalent about the interior changes. I know the original was a compromise born of necessity and being part of the Premier Automotive Group, but this is in no way an improvement (I know, colour me a car design guru...). It looks.... well, to start with, more bling and messy than Aston's current output, which is saying something...it's a bit...sofa warehouse?
Whatever happened to that sweetspot Aston hit of restrained, classy, understated elegance?
CarlosSainz100 said:
Why should a customer have to pick up the tab for Callum Designs r+d?
Because that's how business (an enterprise embarked upon with a view to making a profit) works. R+D is amortised across the life of the project - every customer pays their share. They also pay for the profit (assuming there is any) 
That said, Aston's have always had some problems in the profit department. As witnessed by the old tale, perhaps apocryphal, of an acquaintance of David Brown's sidling up to him in a London Club. "David, old chap" says the individual, "how's about selling me one of those lovely Astons of yours at cost?" Quick as a flash, so the story goes, DB replied "certainly, old boy - that will be 20% over list price"...
I spent a few hours looking at a pre unveiling version of the car with Ian and his team some weeks ago. The quality of the work and the materials, and the attention to detail is really extremely high. And when you put the new car next to the old car, well to me at least, it is better in almost every way. As Ian said on one of the videos, the whole stance is now right; previously the wheels were too small and the track was too narrow in relation to the wheel arches. The side mirrors were huge and so on. Of course, there are no absolutes and one man’s meat is another man’s poison, but I’m sure there are enough people who get what this is about and they won’t have any trouble shifting the cars. As a first output from the new design and engineering team, it is great to see, and I can’t wait for more to come.
AndrewD said:
As Ian said on one of the videos, the whole stance is now right; previously the wheels were too small and the track was too narrow in relation to the wheel arches. The side mirrors were huge and so on.
Yeah he's corrected those things, and then attached a load of other tat to it.The outside looks great, and if there’s a market for a £1.2m 964 there’s got to be a market for this.
Having said that I don’t think the interior is an improvement over the original (the opposite in fact) and to be honest it’s not £500k better looking than the manual one posted above.
Having said that I don’t think the interior is an improvement over the original (the opposite in fact) and to be honest it’s not £500k better looking than the manual one posted above.
Funny thing is, despite all the moaning on here I bet they'll sell out quickly. I think it looks brilliant, although the rear bumper and exhaust layout seem a bit off. Still don't like the interior, although it's an improvement over the Vanquish by Rover 25 interior of the old one. As much as I like it, I still think a Vanquish S in black looks cleaner and crisper.
Erm, this is a little embarrassing, so do please forgive me for pointing this out AndrewD, but... you appear to have entered your Fantasy Garage into the Current Fleet section on your profile... 
Seriously, that's genuinely the most impressive fleet and history I've seen - whatever you're doing, you're doing it right! Chapeau!
Seriously, that's genuinely the most impressive fleet and history I've seen - whatever you're doing, you're doing it right! Chapeau!
Rogue86 said:
Cheib said:
But there are probably 30 to 40 Aston collectors who want one of everything....so you are almost guaranteed to be able to sell these.
You say that, but I don't think Kahn sold either of the Vengeance cars that were built...Callum is the original designer, and carries some weight in consequence. Kahn is a guy who's done very well modding Range Rovers and the like. Each have their own markets. Kahn bought 5 from AML. 1 was the prototype, and at least 1 coupe went to a customer. 2 were ragtops. There was no under-skin engineering done on those cars, so apparently they rode and handled badly - they were "look at me" statements, nothing more.
Just the fact that the huge front grille is milled from a billet of aluminium tells you most of what you need to know...
The new panels were a big investment, but did the person wielding the crayons have any particular pedigree? Besides, Kahn all-but admits that he's trying to turn a DB9 into a Callum car:
Afzal Kahn said:
Aston Martin has always been an inspiration, in particular the early Vanquish and the V600 Vantage wide bodies. The Vengeance pays homage to those classic designs while using modern engineering to create something unique and original which reflects my own style.
Interestingly, whilst you can now buy the prototype https://www.projectkahn.com/preOwned_detail.php?i=... for a mere £1/4m, it is also claim that AML are applying some of selection criteria over who may be allowed to buy a Vengeance - perhaps that rules out many of Kahn's usual customers? skwdenyer said:
Not entirely apples and apples.
I should probably add that I was working there when the car was designed, built and put into the press - they were my images and I shot all 4 cars that were built at the time (one prototype, one coupe, one blue ragtop and one silver). I'm not sure what information about the deals is public so I won't say too much on that, but even from his own IG you can see there is a degree of 'smoke and mirrors' with cars being resprayed/colour-changed in PS etc. The only deal I know of to sell a car initially fell through (it was a silver ragtop), though I havent seen the car appear online anywhere since so maybe it has since. The last image I saw of the car did appear to be in his lockup though...I wouldn't take everything you read online as being gospel and certainly financially, the project itself was not profitable to anyone but AML as they were very costly to build. Obviously it did gain some PR for Kahn though, which is difficult to put a price on!
Edit - I'm also not convinced that car is the prototype unless it has had extensive work done since. The prototype only had dual exhausts, a much smaller ducktail spoiler and a different wheel finish. That said it does have the red pin-striping inside which wasn't on the others.
Edited by Rogue86 on Tuesday 3rd September 16:25
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