Unvanquished! Aston Martin's Vanquish Returns with Big-Power V-12
New flagship coupe will boast an 800-hp-plus twin-turbo twelve-cylinder engine.
0:00 / 0:00
ston Martin has confirmed it is working on a new V-12 engine to power a forthcoming flagship model. And although the British automaker has declined to elaborate, that new flagship car is undoubtedly the replacement for the V-12-powered DBS. What’s more, it will be badged Vanquish, bringing back a nameplate first used on a 12-cylinder Aston Martin in 2001.
The new Vanquish will be officially unveiled before the end of this year. Aston Martin in 2019 showed a mid-engine concept badged Vanquish at the Geneva Show, but the new car will be a front engine coupe, much like the most recent Vanquish (pictured below), with a convertible version likely to appear some time in 2025.
The new V-12 is based on the 5.2-liter twin-turbo powerplant that debuted in the Aston Martin DB11 in 2016 and last appeared in the 2024 DBS 770 Ultimate, where it produced 760 hp and 664 lb-ft of torque. Aston Martin chief technical officer Roberto Fedeli says the engine being developed for the new Aston flagship will produce 824 hp and a thumping 738 lb-ft of torque.
Hardware upgrades include a strengthened block and connecting rods, redesigned cylinder heads incorporating re-profiled camshafts, plus new intake and exhaust ports. The spark plugs have been repositioned and new higher flowrate fuel injectors fitted to deliver optimised combustion. New high-speed, low-inertia turbochargers will deliver improved throttle response.
The engine will likely drive the rear wheels through an eight-speed ZF automatic transmission that has been upgraded to handle the increased power and torque and recalibrated to deliver faster and more precise shifts. Expect a much stiffer chassis, more precise steering, better braking, and more dynamic handling than ever before seen in a big front engine 12-cylinder Aston Martin.
The new Vanquish will continue Aston Martin executive chairman Lawrence Stroll’s drive to reinvent the storied British sports car manufacturer. Stroll wants to take Aston Martin further upmarket, away from the likes of Porsche and Mercedes-AMG and into what the storied British sports car maker’s head of global marketing and communications, Renato Bisignani, calls the white space between ultra-luxury brands like Rolls-Royce, and ultra-performance brands like Ferrari.
That process started with the launch last year of the DB12 coupe, which featured a restyled exterior along with significantly more luxurious interior that showcased Aston Martin’s own in-house infotainment system (versus a reskinned Mercedes unit). In addition to more power, the DB12 received a host of chassis upgrades.
The revised Aston Martin Vantage received much the same treatment, and the development of the new Vanquish is almost certainly likely to follow the same formula, though it will be a far more performance-oriented car than the V-8-powered DB12 and will be built in way more limited numbers than the Vantage.
Following in the wheel tracks of the redesigned Vantage and the revised DBX707, the launch of the Vanquish means that by the end of this year Aston Martin will have on sale four models that will have been redesigned or heavily refreshed in the previous 18 months.
And Lawrence Stroll shows no sign of lifting off the gas in his drive to re-make Aston Martin. Early in 2025 those cars will be joined by the all-new Aston Martin Valhalla, a 1012-hp mid-engine supercar powered by an Aston Martin-engineered hybrid powertrain anchored by the versatile Mercedes-AMG developed twin-turbo 4.0-liter V-8, versions of which already power the DB11 coupe and convertible, the new Vantage and the DBX707.
I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t fascinated by cars. My father was a mechanic, and some of my earliest memories are of handing him wrenches as he worked to turn a succession of down-at-heel secondhand cars into reliable family transportation. Later, when I was about 12, I’d be allowed to back the Valiant station wagon out onto the street and drive it around to the front of the house to wash it. We had the cleanest Valiant in the world.
I got my driver’s license exactly three months after my 16th birthday in a Series II Land Rover, ex-Australian Army with no synchro on first or second and about a million miles on the clock. “Pass your test in that,” said Dad, “and you’ll be able to drive anything.” He was right. Nearly four decades later I’ve driven everything from a Bugatti Veyron to a Volvo 18-wheeler, on roads and tracks all over the world. Very few people get the opportunity to parlay their passion into a career. I’m one of those fortunate few.
I started editing my local car club magazine, partly because no-one else would do it, and partly because I’d sold my rally car to get the deposit for my first house, and wanted to stay involved in the sport. Then one day someone handed me a free local sports paper and said they might want car stuff in it. I rang the editor and to my surprise she said yes. There was no pay, but I did get press passes, which meant I got into the races for free. And meet real automotive journalists in the pressroom. And watch and learn.
It’s been a helluva ride ever since. I’ve written about everything from Formula 1 to Sprint Car racing; from new cars and trucks to wild street machines and multi-million dollar classics; from global industry trends to secondhand car dealers. I’ve done automotive TV shows and radio shows, and helped create automotive websites, iMags and mobile apps. I’ve been the editor-in-chief of leading automotive media brands in Australia, Great Britain, and the United States. And I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. The longer I’m in this business the more astonished I am these fiendishly complicated devices we call automobiles get made at all, and how accomplished they have become at doing what they’re designed to do. I believe all new cars should be great, and I’m disappointed when they’re not. Over the years I’ve come to realize cars are the result of a complex interaction of people, politics and process, which is why they’re all different. And why they continue to fascinate me.Read More
