When questioned about what form a future, battery-powered Aston Martin might take, Lawrence Stroll is fond of telling journalists that no customer ever rings him up asking about EVs. What they do actually phone up the firm’s Executive Chairman about is less clear - but we’ll bet all the money in our pockets the answer to many of those questions has frequently been: ‘just wait till you see the new Vanquish.’
Arguably the name has a slightly less cache than you might hope for in a halo model - you’ll likely recall that the car the new Vanquish replaces is the outgoing DBS, which itself transitioned from Superleggera to 770 Ultimate last year. The last proper Vanquish was discontinued in 2018, and despite its maker bandying the word ‘legendary’ about, it was closer to a very good GT car than an irrefutably great one. Certainly, it was no match for the Ferrari F12. And Aston knew it.
The outcome of that lesson - driven emphatically home by the astonishing nature of the 812 Superfast that Ferrari replaced the F12 with - is clear to see in the new Vanquish. The new chassis has gained 80mm between the A-pillar and the front axle so that it now better resembles a proper front-engined super-GT. Underneath, it is hugely stiffer and much more sophisticated to deliver ‘unprecedented dynamic bandwidth’. And it gets a substantially overhauled 5.2-litre twin-turbo V12 that outputs 835hp and 738lb ft of torque. The former being 65hp more than in the DBS. The latter being 238lb ft more than you get in the naturally aspirated new 12Cilindri. Talk about a statement.
Indeed, according to Stroll himself, it is “one that further delivers on our mission to create the most potent, most beautiful and most exciting cars in the ultra-luxury sports car market. As such Vanquish is the truest of Aston Martins. Immaculately designed and impeccably engineered it sets extraordinary new standards of performance, style and luxury for a new generation of connoisseurs”.
‘Crowning’ its new flagship, first and foremost, meant getting the engine right. Aston makes no bones here about responding to ‘customer desires’ in this respect, and it’s clear that making the V12 ‘class-leading’ was at the core of the Vanquish project. To do so has required no little amount of effort: the updated unit gets a strengthened cylinder block and conrods; redesigned cylinder heads with reprofiled camshafts; new turbochargers capable of running up to 15 per cent quicker; and repositioned spark plugs to work with fuel injectors that deliver a 10 per cent improvement in flow rate.
Alongside the increase in outright power, Aston has endeavoured to close the gap on Ferrari’s other clear advantage: speed of reaction when it comes to throttle input. Tough to achieve with forced induction, of course - but the manufacturer insists that a new ‘Boost Reserve’ function (essentially increasingly the boost pressure even when the throttle is only part open) - makes its new V12 ‘the most responsive-ever offered’. Roberto Fedeli, Aston’s Chief Technical Officer, and a Ferrari employee for 26 years, reckons the engine is ‘a modern masterpiece’.
Attached to it, via a recalibrated eight-speed ZF automatic - and for the first ever in a front-engined V12 Aston - is the electronic limited-slip rear diff that helped take the V8-powered DB12 to another level. As it was there, the e-diff is fully integrated into the six-dimensional accelerometer of the all-singing ESP system, and promises to make the Vanquish significantly more agile than the DBS ever was. Quicker, too: with a new final drive ratio of 2.93:1 the new flagship is capable of hitting 214mph - a very slightly higher top speed than Ferrari quotes for the 12Cilindri.
Structurally, the car sits on a new evolution of the bonded aluminium platform that underpins both the DB12 and Vantage. Its bigger wheelbase is chiefly about creating that longer bonnet; the more significant work, particularly in terms of handling gains, is to be found in the additional underbody strengthening that has contributed to a 75 per cent increase in lateral stiffness compared to the 770 Ultimate. Aston had paid particular attention to improving the mounting stiffness of the suspension: there’s a new engine cross brace, undertray and crossmember at the front, where the double wishbones have been repositioned; and there’s a thicker undertray at the back too for improved subframe stiffness - to the benefit of the multi-link rear axle.
The Vanquish gets the faster-responding Bilstein DTX dampers that first featured on the DB12, and receives larger diameter anti-roll bars alongside a recalibrated (2.27 turns lock-to-lock) electric steering system and standard 410mm/360mm carbon ceramic brakes. Aston talks about pursuing ‘greater feedback and dynamism’ but also makes a point of stating that the Vanquish must be ‘effortlessly relaxing and secure on long drives’. It is the kind of bandwidth that the DB12 went an impressively long way to epitomising; let’s hope that the stated brief for the newcomer - ‘to create a flagship with crushing capability’ - has moved the game on even further.
Certainly, Aston has reached deeper into its technological box of tricks (another Ferrari-style gambit); suggesting that the Vanquish will be the first Aston to benefit from something called Corner Braking 2.0, said to act as a ‘predictive optimiser’ so the car can adopt a tighter line without losing stability at speed. “The new V12 engine is a larger-than-life character, with immense torque from just above idle combined with a truly ferocious top-end,” noted Simon Newton, Aston’s Director of Vehicle Performance. “This sense of boundless propulsion had to be matched by an equal level of control and finesse; something we have achieved by further exploring the tremendous scope of the new Bilstein DTX adaptive dampers, e-diff and latest generation electronics.”
And the tyres. Aston has again worked with Pirelli to not only create a customised P Zero tread and compound specifically for the Vanquish’s 21-inch forged alloy wheels, but it has also incorporated the sound-absorbing Pirelli Noise Cancelling System which is claimed to reduce the noise inside the car by as much as half. This sort of attention to detail is crucial as refinement is a key target of the new two-seat interior. Much of the fundamental architecture, including the now familiar 10.25-inch touchscreen, has been carried over - although it’s obviously worth drawing your attention to the rear, where the cross brace has been used to ‘seperate the purpose-made areas for exquisite saddle leather luggage sets’. Which you’ll obviously need to pay extra for if you want them.
Last of all, there’s the exterior. Which is obviously the first thing you’ll have noticed, and, for now, the most important takeaway. Aston has confirmed that there’s an all-new front bumper, fender and grille - the latter ‘offering a 13 per cent increase in surface area over DBS 770 Ultimate to aid cooling for the 835hp engine’ - as well as a standard panoramic glass roof. But it’s the ‘ruthlessly abrupt’ Kamm Tail with its integrated deckled spoiler, full-width diffuser and new stainless steel quad tailpipe that we can’t stop looking at. Probably it's the making of the car, stylistically speaking. If it's your kind of jam too, you should probably be aware that production of the new Vanquish is 'limited to under 1,000 examples' each year. So if you're interested, you better get your name down quick as deliveries are scheduled to begin in Q4. Aston hasn't confirmed how much it will cost at this stage, although presumably the new flagship will eclipse the £315,000 starting price of the old 770. And anyway, if you really need to ask...
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