The new Vanquish Volante is the, well, crown jewel in a model lineage extending back six decades. The first Aston Martin to receive the name was the Short Chassis Volante of 1965, comprising design elements of both the convertible DB5 that preceded it and DB6 Volante that succeeded it. It is one of the rarest of all production examples, with only 37 built over a one-year period.

Engineering

Providing Vanquish Volante with its energy is Aston Martin’s new twin-turbocharged, 5.2-liter V12 engine. The first V12 to wear the Aston Martin wings was fitted to the DB7 Vantage, launched in both Coupe and Volante for the 2000 model year. In the 25 years since, the power of the marque’s V12 has almost doubled, from 426 PS to 835 PS, with maximum torque seeing similar gains, from 543 Nm to 1000 Nm.

The latest V12 engine in the Vanquish develops maximum torque at just 2500rpm – precisely half the engine speed required by its forebear – and maintains that 1000 Nm torque peak all the way from 2500-5000 rpm, reaching a maximum speed of 214 mph. Despite this significant increase in performance, total weight of Vanquish Volante has risen by 95 kg, raising the power to weight ratio from 313 hp per ton to 416 hp per ton.