Aston Martin Virage dropped - to be replaced by new DB9

Less than eighteen months since it debuted – and after just over 1,000 cars – Aston Martin is dropping the Virage.

The Aston Martin Virage always seemed a bit of a stretch too far for Aston Martin, and so it has proved.

After a lifespan of no more than eighteen months – and with just over 1000 cars built – Aston Martin has decided that there are just too few buyers who feel the Virage is enough of a step up from the DB9 to warrant the extra cost.

So where does that leave Aston Martin – who were planning to drop the ‘DB’ moniker and move to a named car basis, Virage, Vanquish… – now the Virage has failed? Well, it appears all the work on the Virage isn’t going to be lost.

It seems that the Virage is going to be dropped in favour of a new, more powerful DB9. The new DB9 will get similar, more aggressive, styling to the Virage and sport a bit more power, but not so much the new Vanquish is threatened.

The move from Virage to new DB9 will probably also see the price of the new DB9 moving up to the level of the outgoing Virage – around £150k – instead of the DB9’s current price of £128k, still a chunk less than the £190k Vanquish but, if Aston Martin have got it right, useful extra revenue from DB9 punters.

So it’s back to just two versions of the DB9 – the new DB9 (which was the old Virage) and the new Vanquish (which was the old DBS).

All clear?