A busy week at the Nurburgring! Hot on the heels of the Rapide we caught testing yesterday in Germany, comes the latest Aston scoop: the V12-powered Vantage. It’s no big shakes – we’ve already driven the concept unveiled in December 2007, we’ve already scooped the production prototype and we know that Aston wants to build it.
So we won’t spend long dissecting these latest scoop images beamed over from the Ring today. It’s interesting to note that the V12 is pulling out of Jaguar’s test centre. As we revealed yesterday, Aston is opening its own bespoke test facility in May 2008 but in the meantime it’s sharing the facility with its former sister company.
Vantage: from V8 to V12
We’ve seen the registration document for this car and it’s officially registered as a V12. That’s the 6.0-litre V12 we’ve already seen in use in the DB9 and DBS – but expected to be in a different state of tune for the Vantage road car.
When will we see it? Current bets are for a 2009 launch, and Aston’s marketing bods are testing the water for demand. It is likely to be a limited production run, with prices hoiked to nearly double the V8 Vantage’s. Word is the V12 will cost a steep £140,000 or thereabouts. That’s a big premium for four extra cylinders…