The Aston Martin Vanquish
V12 Vanquish is a car beloved by modern day enthusiasts and also heritage collectors alike. The car’s appearance in ‘Die Another Day’ ensured its place in James Bond history and has helped to make this an instantly recognisable model. Importantly, Vanquish saw huge developments in engineering and design, many of which formed the basis for the development of the current Aston Martin model line-up. Developed from the 1998 Project Vantage concept car, V12 Vanquish entered production in 2001. Underneath the handmade bonnet sat a 460bhp version of the Aston Martin V12 engine, delivering its power via a 6-speed manual gearbox controlled by an electro-hydraulic paddle shift gear change.
Aston Martin Vanquish Sales Data & Trends
Hand-built at the famous Newport Pagnell factory, just 1489 examples of the 460bhp Vanquish were constructed before being replaced by the more powerful V12 Vanquish S in 2005. Building on the sales success of the original Vanquish, Vanquish S featured an increase in engine power (up from 460bhp to 520bhp) and revised gear and back axle ratios. Top speed was quoted as being in excess of 200mph, making it one of the fastest Aston Martin road cars built at Newport Pagnell.
The exterior panels were still lovingly hand finished in the factory panel shop from ‘Superformed’ aluminium. Discreet changes to ‘S’ included a bigger, revised grille, front splitter and a raised rear ‘spoiler’ built into the boot lid to keep the car stable at high speed. Inside Vanquish S showed what could be achieved with beautiful hand stitched leather. The dashboard and many of the smaller interior pieces were now trimmed in hide adding to the bespoke feel of the already impressive 2+0 or 2+2 cabin. Very late cars adopted updated switchgear, an Aston Martin audio system and standard fit Satellite Navigation screen. As the production life of Vanquish drew close to the end a very special limited edition of 50 cars were built. The Vanquish Ultimate featured a unique metallic black paint finish and special trim and fittings. Completion of the last ‘Ultimate’ in July 2007 not only marked the end of a successful career for Vanquish but also over 50 years of Aston Martin car production at Newport Pagnell.
The unique features of the second generation Vanquish took the design ethos of Aston Martin into a new generation. The all-new exterior form was influenced by the One-77 supercar, seeing each carbon-fibre body panel take a taut, aggressive form. Every external panel on Vanquish was made from aerospace standard carbon-fibre, essential in crafting the pure surfaces and maintaining the precision used to create such a beautiful design. This made the body 25% lighter than DBS. Produced at Aston Martin’s bespoke engine facility in Cologne, engineers worked tirelessly to create an engine worthy of a new flagship model. The process delivered clear technical advances. The debut of dual variable valve timing. Enlarged throttle bodies. Fully machined combustion chambers and a ‘big wing’ intake manifold.
Aston Martin Vanquish Europe Sales Data & Charts
Europe Annual Sales
Europe Annual Growth
Car sales statistics are from the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland.
Sources: Manufacturers, ANDC, JATO Dynamics.
