Aston Martin already builds the ultimate in luxury performance cars — powerful, nimble vehicles that double up nicely between track day duty and cross country grand touring. The latest creation from the very British automaker looks to leave the GT label behind with a “super grand touring.”
The new Vanquish S will make its U.S. debut at the 2016 L.A. Auto Show this week. While other companies tap out to hybrid engines and undersized power plants juiced with turbo chargers, Aston Martin keeps the dream alive with the Vanquish S, thanks to a naturally aspirated, 6.0 liter, V12 engine laying down 580 horsepower.
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The Vanquish S feeds air into that massive engine with a redesigned, free breathing intake system with larger volume inlet manifolds. Imagine an Olympic runner training to stretch out his lung capacity and improve performance — more air, more speed. Same cause and reason.
The car uses Aston Martin’s eight speed Touchtronic III transmission. To settle in with the faster power plant, the gears gearshifts jive faster.
Retuning continues across the board to match the enhanced engine. The suspension, damper internals, spring rates and anti-roll bar bushes are all adjusted to keep the car tight in the corners for tracking driver in sport modes.
Outwardly, the car is every bit the Vanquish made famous by 007. Using more conspicuous carbon fiber in the body and new quad exhaust outlets, there’s a more aggressive flair to the S from previous the Vanquish incarnations.
Vanquish S will head to buyers in both Coupe and Volante version. It should hit the roan in April of next year with a price starting at $294,950 in the U.S.
