Aston primes fierce new ‘vanquish’

Aston Martin is preparing to transform the V12-engined DBS into a bona fide supercar, more clearly distinguished from its V8-powered DB12 and Vantage siblings.

New exclusive pictures of the supercar – which is tipped to revive the Vanquish name – reveal that it is based on the DB12 but with a wide-reaching visual makeover that points to its extra grunt: there are huge new vents on the bonnet to keep the 12-cylinder engine cool, a much wider grille and a chunkier lower splitter that hints at improved downforce.

The rear end features a larger diffuser to improve aerodynamic performance, and the twin-exit exhaust set-up has been replaced by four tailpipes, nodding to the extra cylinders.

A similar arrangement featured on the final-edition DBS 770, in which the V12’s output was ramped up to 759bhp. It could be in line to receive yet more poke to do battle with Ferrari’s upcoming 812 Superfast replacement, potentially nudging the 800bhp mark, but it has yet to be seen whether Aston will boost capacity beyond the 5.2 litres of the previous car.

Any power increase will no doubt be matched by a comprehensive chassis overhaul, building on the set-up deployed on the fearsome DBS 770 Ultimate, with uprated dampers and a boost in rigidity at both ends helping to improve cornering performance and giving the supercar a broader scope of ability on track.

Although the DBS successor is evidently based on the DB12, it will be “completely different” from both that grand tourer and the new Vantage, Aston Martin chief creative officer Marek Reichman told Autocar.

As for the new supercar’s name, product and market strategy director Alex Long has noted that ‘DB’ models tend to sit at the “core of the line-up”, suggesting that flagships such as this merit names beginning with V (such as Valhalla and Valkyrie), and Autocar understands a revival of the Vanquish badge is on the cards.

Aston Martin is expected to unveil the DBS successor this summer, possibly du