2006 - Aston Martin Vantage on 2040-cars

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Cash influx could help Aston Martin double sales

Aston Martin is on the verge of a major product overhaul – complete with new architecture and powertrains. And good thing, considering that the Vantage and DB9 are each about a decade old. But to make it all happen, the British automaker is going to need a massive capital influx. Fortunately, that's just what it got when Investindustrial came on board. The Italian private equity fund, which previously owned a large chunk of Ducati and is now building a Ferrari theme park in Spain, bought a 37.5 percent stake in Aston Martin back in 2012. The acquisition reportedly cost Investindustrial the better part of a quarter billion dollars, but that's not the end of the firm's investment in Aston. According to Bloomberg, Investindustrial is now pouring even more into the Gaydon-based marque to help fund its product blitz. The output of that investment is expected to be announced at the upcoming Geneva Motor Show. That's where Aston's new chief executive Andy Palmer (whom Investindustrial reportedly helped poach from Nissan) is tipped to announce the company's new product plan that is earmarked to help double the company's sales from around 4,000 units last year to as many as 8,000 once those new products reach the market. The plan will assuredly include replacements for Aston's trademark luxury GTs, but could also encompass a new crossover utility vehicle to give it a greater foothold in growing markets like China while taking on similar new products from key rivals like Bentley and Maserati. While those two competitors are owned by larger auto groups – Volkswagen and Fiat Chrysler, respectively – Aston is independent. It's brokered a deal with Mercedes (thanks once again in no small part to Investindustrial) to help with components it can't effectively develop in-house, but the cash injection will be critical to the brand's revival plans.

Aston Martin working on a limited-edition DBR1-inspired speedster?

The Supercar Blog has heard from its supercar-privy sources that Aston Martin might be working on a new speedster. The putative roofless model could be inspired by the most important and most valuable racer in Aston Martin's history, the DBR1 that took overall honors at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1959. Thought to be limited to just 88 units, TSB said the carmaker might have held a VIP preview event during Monterey Car Week last month. If the English luxury maker is developing such a model, we can probably declare the speedster era officially open for business after the limited-edition Ferrari SP1 and SP2 Monzas, Porsche 911 Speedster, and the Ultimate Series speedster that McLaren recently admitted is on the way. As with the Aston Martin, all of the other high-bucks open-sky models take inspiration from racers of yesteryear.  Furthermore, if Aston Martin really has such plans, the carmaker would be re-opening a six-year-old chapter in company history. In 2013, Aston Martin unveiled the CC100 Speedster (pictured) at the 2013 Nurburgring 24-Hour race, created in just six months to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford deciding to build vehicles together. The CC100 was built on the VH platform utilized by the brand's production cars, and used a 6.0-liter V12 with 565 horsepower to do 0-60 mph in four seconds and reach a top speed of 180 mph. The carmaker built two of them, sold to collectors very close to the brand. Today's DBS Superleggera platform and its 5.2-liter, 715-hp V12 could make a suitable base, and who knows, Aston Martin — unlike Ferrari or McLaren — could go all the way and swap the DBS' eight-speed automatic for a manual transmission. Another site said the speedster impetus comes from "the high interest demonstrated by multiple collectors." No one has any insight on the symbolism of 88 units, though. Aston Martin did release a series of Dragon 88 models in 2012 for the Asian market, named for the auspicious omens associated with the number 8 in Chinese culture, and the Interush International team entered a #88 Vantage GT3 race car in the 2015 GT Asia Series, but that seems a gossamer thin connection. The Aston Martin One-77, after all, had a lot of sevens in its spec sheet, but was half named for its production volume. If there is a vintage-themed speedster on the way, we'll know more when Aston Martin decides to admit it.

Aston Martin V12 Vantage teased again

The newest Aston Martin V12 Vantage cometh. Although we don't know when it comes and we don't know how many, we know what its front kind-of looks like, we know what it sounds like, and thanks to another Twitter tease, we've got a glimpse of the rear end. Starting with that front aspect in the clouded image above, there will be an oversized grille like that on the Vantage F1 Edition with flanking intakes and a front lip spoiler. That lip will be aerodynamically entangled with some downforce-generating devices in back. The shaky-cam video tweet reveals a high wing with what look like serious endplates, and a double diffuser that would create additional ground-hugging suction over the standard car's diffuser. If the prototypes spotted at the Nurburgring can be trusted, a central exhaust will replace the tips normally existing under the diffuser wings. Do not go gentle into that good night.#AstonMartin #V12Vantage #NeverLeaveQuietly — Aston Martin (@astonmartin) December 21, 2021 The two previous V12 Vantages, parked behind the coming model in the photo above, have all been hardcore. This one, clearly, will go several leaps deeper into brutal territory. Considering CEO Tobias Moers' time heading AMG, this feels like the company skipping a predictable V12 Vantage and going straight to a V12 Vantage Black Series. This being the third teaser this month for what will become the flagship Vantage in the range, we get the feeling a reveal won't be more than a few weeks away. Rumors and whispers say we can expect the 5.5-liter twin-turbo V12 to produce somewhere around 670 horsepower, which would be 20 ponies down on the same engine in the Vantage-based Aston Martin Speedster unveiled last year, 40 ponies above the DB11 with the V12. The Supercar Blog heard that all the body panels will be carbon fiber, and that there will be just 299 examples built, all using an eight-speed automatic transmission. Moers has said he plans 10 derivatives of existing models by 2023, the V12 Vantage's tagline "Never Leave Quietly" leading us to believe this car will start the crescendo that announces the V12's exit. The next Vantage and DB11 will go all-electric, the automaker pledging all its road cars will be battery-electric by 2030, with ICE builds reserved for track purposes.