The company has returned to one of its coolest ever names with the new AM 310 Vanquish, which, consequently, consigns the DBS to the history annals. This new Vanquish will now sit at the top of the Aston tree, and so it should - with the exception of the One-77, it's the most powerful car they will build.
Power comes from a thoroughly reworked version of the venerable all-alloy 6.0-litre V12, positioned 19mm lower than the DBS for improved agility. It features a revised block, a new head, dual variable valve timing, an uprated fuel pump, enlarged throttle bodies, a revised ‘big wing' intake manifold and fully machined combustion chambers.
As such, it now produces 565bhp and 457lb ft of torque - delivered lower down the rev range, says Aston - sent through a six-speed automated manual transmission that results in a 0-62mph time of 4.1 seconds and a top speed of 183mph. That's 8mph less than the outgoing DBS. Ferrari's F12 Berlinetta - the Vanquish's probable sparring partner - comfortably eclipses these stats, but of course, battles like this are won in the heart, not the head. Both these cars' collective worth in the real world won't rest solely on bald facts.
Still, it's no runner-up in the tech stakes; every single panel on the Vanquish is made from carbon fibre, and AM's ‘Vertical Horizontal' (VH) aluminium architecture has been re-engineered to be 25 per cent stiffer than the DBS. The front has also been redesigned (to allow for that engine lowering) and is now 13 per cent lighter than the DBS.
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