06 Oct 04
There used to be a certain laws governing the way things happened at Aston Martin. Nobody ever wrote them down because there was no real need. Without anyone ever particularly trying, this was just the way things happened.
Law one dictated that all Aston Martins should be built in such a time-consuming, anachronistic manner that the possibility of the company making money out of them was absolutely disallowed. The second law was that all new Astons were timed to arrive with the frequency of Haley's Comet and - law three - when they did they'd be full of faults from one beautiful bumper to the other. Law four said they should all be ever do slightly disappointing to drive. The final immutable law of Aston Martin was that the company could only ever function as it should on a shoestring budget, preferably teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, ideally being thrown from owner to owner like a hand grenade with the pin removed.
Now look at it. In the last two years Aston Martin has gained a shiny new factory, a shiny new, state-of-the-art car called the DB9 that's going to make £millions and by Christmas there will be a Volante version which will make £millions more. We have just learned that works Aston Martins will be at Le Mans with an all-new racing car next year, which will nicely coincide with another new car, the much anticipated Porsche 911 basher, the V8 Vantage. And that will make £millions and £millions.
What, you may ask, remains of the old Aston Martin? Just this - the new 520bhp, Vanquish S whose 'in excess of 200mph' top speed makes it officially Aston Martin's fastest ever road car. This eclipses by an unspecified amount the 600bhp version of the old V8 Vantage which was apparently only good for 200mph and not one mph more.
