Aston Martin unveils 2018 Vantage

Look out Porsche – Aston Martin has you in its sights. And the weapon it has unleashed to target the iconic German sports car brand is the all-new, V8-engined, twin-turbo Vantage.

The second model range to be built under Aston Martin’s new ‘Second Century’ product plan and powered by fettled versions of Mercedes-AMG’s twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8, the new Vantage was officially unveiled today but has been the subject of numerous teasers and even official sneak peeks. It’s been variously dubbed the marque’s answer to the Mercedes-AMG GT and its “911 hunter”...

The Vantage will go on sale around the middle of 2018 Down Under, priced from around $300,000. With the 911 Carrera S around $262,000 plus ORCS (in PDK form) and Mercedes-AMG’s GT line up in the same ballpark, the comparisons are spot on.

In Vantage form, the Aston/AMG V8 pumps out 375kW and 685Nm. It’s matched to a rear-mounted eight-speed automatic ZF transmission. It is the first Aston to pair this transaxle arrangement with a BMW M-style electronically-controlled E-Diff for maximum performance.

Aston is claiming a top speed in excess of 310km/h (195mph) and 0-60mph (0-97km/h) time of just 3.5sec. Fuel economy is pegged at 10.5L/100km – pretty impressive on paper. And yep, it won’t get close to that in the real world and nobody will care – least of all, us.

motoring.com.au was gifted an ‘audience’ with the new car at Aston Martin’s Melbourne showroom back in October. It’s only now, however, that the British sports-car brand is allowing the official technical details of the new car surface.

Our video reveals a number of the aspects of the new car, which features front styling that links Vantage with both Aston’s Vulcan supercar and the much-hyped Valkyrie hypercar. Rather than describe the lines and looks of the new Vantage check out our sneak peek.

For the anoraks among you, at 4465mm long the new Vantage is over 30mm shorter than the current 991.2 series 911 Carrera S. The Aston rides on a considerably longer wheelbase (2704mm v 2450) and is substantially wider (1942mm v 1808 – both with no mirrors).

Comparing the auto Aston to the PDK (twin-cutch) equipped Carrera S, the Porsche has around a 70kg weight advantage.

The new Vantage’s chassis is an evolution of the bonded aluminium structure used in the DB11. Aston claims, however, 70 per cent of the components are new. The focus is handling and driver feedback and the new design includes a solidly mounted rear subframe. The car also gets bespoke Pirelli P Zero tyres and Aston’s latest iteration of its ‘Skyhook’ adaptive suspension technology, complete with the choice of Sport, Sport Plus and Track modes.

Strictly, the Vantage will target higher performance versions of the 911, but the dimensional contrast is still of value. We should, however, tell you in the flesh the new Aston coupe looks tiny – almost Cayman rather than 911 sized.

And there’s no doubting its aggressive styling and aerodynamics; unlike the smooth lines Porsche has been championing of late, the new Vantage has GT3 racer-style front splitter and gills, and a giant rear diffuser. There’s a very racer-for-the-road bent to the new Vantage’s styling.

The other key difference is the number of seats the Vantage offers. The Aston is strictly a two-seater while the Porsche retains its 2+2 configuration in most variants.

Aston Martin’s Kevin Wall says the Vantage will be targeted at the “HLS” segment.

“Price will be circa $300K, which we believe puts it right in the ballpark of the HLS [high luxury sports] segment that we’re chasing – which is Porsche 911, Mercedes-AMG GT S and the like.

“We’re doing quite well in it [the HLS segment] at the moment, but we think this [new] car is going to do a whole better,” Wall explained.

Wall believes the new Vantage will be a step change for the brand in terms of sports-car volume – and not just in Australia.

“It puts us, in a marketing sense, into an area where we’ll be chasing the new market segment... Whilst we totally value our existing clientele, there is one hell of a pent-up demand for this car... And the fact of the matter is that that demand is not only Australia, but worldwide.”

Wall says Aston is already holding a substantial number of local orders for the new Vantage but stresses he’s still negotiating volume for Australia and New Zealand.

“Suffice to say that the dealers are telling me we haven’t got enough, but that’s okay. That’s not necessarily a bad position to be in,” he stated.

“Of course we’re going to be looking after our existing and faithful Aston Martin clients, but we’re also looking to forge into other areas of not only people that have never owned an Aston Martin before, but people who may have owned an Aston Martin previously and have wandered away.

“We think they’re going to come back,” he opined.

Part of the Vantage’s attraction will be even more focussed performance versions. Indeed, Wall hinted that Aston’s racing division AMR will be working its magic on the new Vantage – although there are no plans for a V12 powered variant anytime soon.

“We’ll have AMR derivatives down here for sure, absolutely. There are already some existing Vantage AMRs in production for Australia [the existing GT8 model] and they will be here, hopefully by the end of the year,” he explained.