More powerful V-12 for Aston Martin’s new Vanquish, due out this year

Aston Martin has a 25-year tradition of powering its flagship model with a V-12 engine, and apparently that will continue. The British manufacturer has released some details about a new twin-turbocharged V-12 that will debut in Aston’s upcoming flagship, which will apparently be called the Vanquish, reviving a name first used 23 years ago.

The new engine, Aston says, produces 824 hp and 738 lb-ft of torque. That’s 64 more horses than you’ll find in the company’s most powerful current V-12, used in the limited edition DBS 770 Ultimate. “One last tour before it goes extinct,” says Aston Martin’s website about the 770 Ultimate, so grab it while you can. Actually, that is not possible, at least not at Aston: the 300 coupes and 199 convertibles that Aston produces have already been sold.

The new V-12 uses a strengthened cylinder block and connecting rods, redesigned cylinder heads with new camshafts, plus new intake and exhaust ports. The spark plugs have been relocated and there are new higher flow fuel injectors.

“The V-12 engine has long been a symbol of power and prestige, but it is also a statement of engineering passion and engineering prowess,” said Roberto Fedeli, Aston Martin technical director. “This unprecedented engine represents nothing less than the dawning of a dazzling new V-12 era for Aston Martin.”

The flagship that will be powered by the new V-12 will apparently not be the Vanquish Vision Concept that the company showed at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2019. That car, which Aston told us is “a preview of the design language of Aston Martin’s first production mid-engine supercar,” has apparently been shelved, along with the planned V-6 hybrid turbo engine. The upcoming Vanquish, we hear, will be a conventional front-engine, rear-wheel drive GT car. It is expected to break ground later this year.

It’s probably no coincidence that word of the new V-12, and the accompanying mention that a new flagship is on the way, arrives around the same time Aston Martin’s first-quarter financial report was released. This shows that Aston according to Reuters“made fewer cars and burned more money than analysts expected, sending shares down 7 percent.”

To be fair, this partly reflects the downtime required to move from one model to another, as Aston has been busy building new or refreshed models this year. According to Motor trendBy the end of this year, Aston Martin will have four models on sale that have been redesigned or significantly updated over the past 18 months.

“Our first quarter performance reflects this expected transition period,” said Aston chairman Lawrence Stroll. According to Forbesfashion mogul Stroll has a personal fortune of $3.9 billion; This should put Aston Martin, the carmaker, and Aston Martin, the Formula 1 team, on solid ground, although it is rumored that he would like to sell 25 percent of the latter.

Either way, we can’t wait to see what Stroll has in store for Aston Martin, both in the showroom and on the track.

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