The new Aston Martin Vantage will be given its own obvious character over the DB12 and the DBS replacement as the first Aston Martin to break cover before a slew of new models arrive in the coming months.
The Vantage will be styled to be a “complete hooligan” as part of a plan to make it even sportier, chief creative officer Marek Reichman has told Autocar.
Although the Vantage will undergo a similar interior overhaul to the DB12, it will be differentiated by its character on the road. Given the high-riding DBX 707 offers Vantage-baiting levels of performance and the DB12 has been given a power boost and significant handling upgrade over the DB11 it replaces, “you get more sporty anyway”, said Reichman, when it came to creating the next Vantage.
“The next Vantage can separate from a DB12 with huge performance and a DBX that feels like it. It has to be completely different,” said Reichman. “The replacement for the DBS will then be “completely different to both of them.”
Product and market strategy director Alex Long echoed Reichman, saying: "We'll see in our sports car and GT range much more breadth and separation between one end and the other, where today they're quite similarly positioned. We'll see a much broader operating range."
Reichman also said Aston’s road car operation will be making full use of the Formula 1 team’s resources, likely resulting in several tweaks in the Vantage’s design. The upgraded model was recently seen testing at the Nürburgring, revealing a smaller grille and smoother lines around the front end. The car's rear appears to have received a reworked splitter with a quad-exhaust set-up and more aggressive air ducting from the wheel arches.
The chassis set-up is expected to take after the track-honed V12 Vantage, with improvements in poise and pace ranking high on the to-do list. Lightweighting is not likely to extend to a smaller engine, however: AMG’s six-cylinder wouldn’t work for the Vantage, Long said, because “the sound is so much” of the car’s raw emotional appeal. “We don’t build transport. We build dreams,” he added.
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Agree with most of the comments here about not wanting Aston to be like a Lambo etc, but the reality is the traditional buyers of Aston's have largely been replaced with 'new money', just the sort that like their Lambo's and their designer labels. All previous owners failed to make a go of it with Aston, Stroll is going after the 'new money' hence this product strategy. Do I like it, no, but fact is that might be the only way to keep Aston alive, although I would argue let it die if that's what it takes.
We'll have to watch this space...
Design hack Marek Reichman needs to go. He's proven time and time again he doesn't understand Aston Martin, or how to design cars.
Now this is going to look like a "hooligan"? Where's the beauty? Where's the soul? Where's a competent designer who can save Aston Martin?
I come here for the car news, but I stay for the Symanski comments.
Stroll doesn't understand Aston Martin either. Nor does Mercedes.
" we don't build transport, we build dreams" what kind of a statement is that?, Aston only have to adress previous failings in there products namely the interior needs modernisation, the exterior shape inst quite there yet, this car from certain angles reminds me of the Toyota Celica from a while back which was a nice looking car by the way, Aston Martin need to bold brave and get away. From the James Bond DB5 iconography.
Agreed. They keep forgetting that Aston Martin is "the gentleman's sports car" and that has always been its unique appeal. This new "brutal" approach they're taking to everything isn't helping them.
Exactly. This talk reeks of branding, which is Stroll's thing. Astons shouldn't be British Lamborghinis -- they should be Aston Martins. There are plenty of in-your-face exotics, which is great, but Astons should NOT be that. Oh, and the more-sporty-more-differentiation-among-models thing is exactly what they said last time with the Vantage/DB11/DBS.
Good comments. To be honest, almost invariably when they talk about more differentiation, it is an attempt to hide the fact they are very similar, thy protest too much.