Aston Martin's $1.5m V12 Speedster lands

Aston Martin has unleashed a wild new roofless and windscreen-less version of the DBS Superleggera called the V12 Speedster and, despite its concept car looks, it's destined for a short production run of 88 cars.

Created in co-operation with the British car-maker's 'Q' customisation division, the V12 Speedster is claimed to draw heavily on Aston Martin's racing back catalogue, borrowing design cues from cars like the DBR1 from the 1950s.

Set to go head-to-head with the Bentley Bacalar, the McLaren Elva and both the Ferrari Monza SP1 and SP2 twins, the V12 Speedster is actually far more than a gas-axed DBS.

Up front, there's a pair of headlights that appear to be lifted from the smaller Vantage coupe, sitting above an oversized version of the car-maker's trademark grille that, in itself, is flanked by additional air intakes either side.

All of its body is made of carbon-fibre and the bonnet features an extra open intake for additional cooling, while both the top of the front fenders and doors feature large wheel-arch vent extractors, hinting at the huge amount of aero-work involved in creating the V12 Speedster.

Focusing on the large bonnet, a central spine leads all the way through the cabin to the rear, where two curved flying buttresses lurk behind both the driver and passenger seat. At the rear of the car, the body flows seamlessly into a neat spoiler.

Inside, the open-air V12 Speedster gets satin carbon-fibre trim matched with leather, chrome, aluminium and 3D printed rubber elements.

Instead of a glovebox, Aston has equipped its roadster with a removeable leather bag that's claimed to be lighter.

Speaking of weight, there's no claim of any savings over the regular DBS Superleggera, but the Aston V12 Speedster features a detuned version of its twin-turbocharged 5.2-litre V12 and produces 'only' 515kW and 753Nm of torque.

That means there's little chance of it being any quicker than the 2.9 seconds it takes for the coupe to hit 100km/h.

That's no bad thing because, combined with an eight-speed auto, the V12 Speedster can still complete the 0-100km/h dash in blistering 3.5 seconds.

Top speed, meanwhile, has been artificially limited to 300km/h – remember this is in a roofless Aston without anything in the way of a windscreen to protect you from the elements.

To help make up for the power deficit, Aston's engineers have created a stainless steel exhaust for the V12 Speedster that's claimed to provide a more rousing soundtrack.

Beneath the skin there are double wishbones up front and a rear multi-link set-up, all supported by adaptive dampers.

Large 21-inch alloy rims, with centre-locks, hide huge carbon-ceramic brake discs.

Aston Martin has confirmed that each V12 Speedster will cost £765,000 ($A1.5m), with deliveries expected to commence in early 2021.