New Aston Martin Vanquish Will Fight The Ferrari 812 Superfast Next Year

Aston Martin's boss says the new Vanquish will be "bloody good." It better be if it's competing against the 812 Superfast.

Just this week, Aston Martin made a final farewell to the current-generation Vanquish. The stunning S Ultimate Coupe and Volante, limited to just 175 examples, is likely to be the last model to be powered by a 595-horsepower naturally aspirated 6.0-liter V12. It is of course paving the way for the all-new flagship model, which company boss Andy Palmer has confirmed to Autocar will be revealed and go on sale next year to compete with the Ferrari 812 Superfast.

It marks a different direction for Aston Martin, which previously used the Vanquish to compete with luxury grand-tourers like the Bentley Continental GT rather than performance supercars like the Ferrari 812 Superfast. Development of the new Vanquish is nearing completion according to Palmer, who described the flagship as “bloody good” when discussing the car with Autocar. “The majority of product investment [for Vanquish] is finished,” he added. “What’s left is preparation of manufacturing the car rather than preparation of the car itself. We are making more prototypes to make sure we’ve got production ready to go.” Palmer also confirmed that a convertible Vanquish Volante will follow.

Powering the flagship grand tourer will be a turbocharged 5.2-liter V12 taken from the DB11, but the 600-hp unit will need to be considerably more powerful to compete with the 789-hp Ferrari 812 Superfast. While the new Vanquish will be underpinned by the same platform as the DB11, recent sightings at the Nurburgring showed the car wearing new bodywork featuring a lip spoiler, suggesting that the new Vanquish will produce more downforce than the DB11. The prototype also sits lower and corners with less body roll than the DB11. Before the new Vanquish is revealed next year, Aston Martin is planning to unveil the new Vantage later this month.

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