02 Mar 05
Aston Martin CEO Dr. Ulrich Bez unveiled the V8 Vantage at the Geneva motorshow, starting his speech with the strange words "We're not big, or intelligent, but we are fast". He claims that the V8 Vantage is now Aston Martin's "most important car in its history", just as the DB9 and Vanquish were the most important cars when they were launched. The Aston Martin V8 Vantage will cost £79,000 or 104,000 Euros when it goes on sale towards the end of summer 2005.
Aston's intended rival to the likes of the Porsche 911, said Bez "is a true Aston Martin, built with the same high integrity and passion as all of our cars. This is the most affordable Aston Martin and its design and agility should help us to widen our appeal and attract younger customers to the marque. The real difference is that the V8 Vantage takes us into a new sector of the market where we have not been previously represented."
A two-seater, the 4.38m-long coupe has a hatchback-style tailgate for added practicality, with a large luggage shelf behind the seats. A wide selection of leathers, fabrics and trim finishes will be available, with aluminium dials and detailing. Design director Sarah Maynard said: "We wanted to continue to evolve the interior design we started with the DB9. The V8 Vantage has all of those attributes and like the DB9, everything you touch within the cabin area is special to Aston Martin." So no Ford switchgear, then. AM says that the V8 Vantage has undergone "the most extensive test and development programme in the company's 91-year history", with 78 prototypes doing over 1.5 million miles; hot-weather testing was done in Dubai, cold-weather testing up in the Arctic Circle in Sweden and track testing at Nardo and the Nurburgring. It is built around a lightweight aluminium structure, bonded with aerospace-style adhesives and rivets rather than traditional welds. Its exterior panels are a combination of aluminium, steel and composite materials, with many magnesium components to further save weight.
Power comes from an all-new 4.3-litre quad-cam 32-valve V8 (380bhp at 7000rpm, 302lb ft at 5000rpm), unique to Aston Martin - so far - and featuring race-style dry sump lubrication, which enables it to be mounted low to lower the centre of gravity. The engine is assembled by hand at the new AM facility in Cologne, Germany, which also builds the V12 for the DB9 and Vanquish. It is front mid-mounted with a transaxle, allowing for the six-speed manual transmission to be mounted at the rear, giving a 49:51 front:rear weight distribution. Further transmission options will be announced at a later date, though Aston product development director Jeremy Main claims that the standard gearbox "is one of the best manual gearchanges in the world".
