Production of the Aston Martin V12 Vantage Coupe has ended and there are big changes going on at Aston Martin with key personnel moving.
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Launched as a limited edition V12 Vantage in 2009, by 2010 Aston decided there was enough demand to make the V12 Vantage a proper part of Aston’s standard offerings, and since then it’s been the same.
The V12 Vantage has also spawned a Roadster version (which, we think, stays in production – at least for now) and the slightly bonkers V12 Zagato, which conspired to look a bit too extreme for an Aston and cost an arm and a leg.
We know that AM sold around 1200 V12 Vantage Coupes, around 100 V12 Vantage Roadsters and a handful of V12 Zagatos, but now the run is at an end and we do wonder if there will be a replacement? Is there still room in the world for small, V12 sports cars, or will Aston Martin develop a new Vantage with a supercharged or turbocharged V8 instead?
But it does look like things are changing big time at Aston Martin, so there could be some interesting news round the corner.
This week Aston Martin has confirmed that the £150 million investment by Investindustrial for a 35 per cent stake in AML has now been completed, and we’ve also learnt that Aston boss, Ulrich Bez, is to step aside after more than a decade in charge at Gaydon.
Not only that, but Aston’s Chief engineer, Chris Porritt, is packing his bags and heading off to sunny California to take on the role of Vice President of Engineering at Tesla. Which seems a world away from developing the One-77, but perhaps indicates not just Tesla’s ambition but a major shake-up at Aston Martin.
No doubt we’ll be hearing more of what’s planned at Aston Martin in the coming weeks and months, but with the V12 Vantage Coupe now consigned to the history books, we thought the best way to mark that would be to put up Jeremy Clarkson’s Top Gear Eulogy for the V12 Vantage, which now seems even more prescient.
Percy says
Why would Aston Martin do this when the V12 is now EU6 compliant?
Cars UK says
It is possible Aston Martin will put the new V12 from the Vanquish in the Vantage, but with a new Vantage not due for a year or two they may not bother. After all, both the V12 Coupe and Roadster were supposed to be limited run cars.
AsiaCh says
Noooooo! Not the V12V!
Chris says
What a car. There’s something about a naturally aspirated V12 engine. Hopefully, AM will rework the venerable Ford 6 litre and get the power over 600bhp, so as to compete with competition in the Vanquish market. This is excluding the one-77 version.