What's the news?
Aston Martin has announced at the Geneva Motor Show that its new performance arm will be called AMR.
This new sub-line of the luxury marque, named with a nod to the Aston Martin Racing competition team that has seen much success in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), will offer a range of faster, more eye-catching road-going vehicles... and then gob-smacking machines like the Vantage AMR Pro, one of the two cars on show in Geneva.
This beast is basically a GT4 racer for private use. It uses a 507hp development of the GT4 competition version's V8 engine, with race-spec adjustable suspension and transmission mounts, and 19-inch centre-lock wheels clothed in Michelin Pilot Cup 2 tyres. It wears the same bonnet and rear wing as the WEC championship-winning car and is finished in a Lime-Green accented Stirling Green paintjob that takes its inspiration from said race vehicle. Inside is a custom roll cage, Dark Knight Alcantara upholstery with more lime green flashes and lots of carbon fibre.
The Rapide AMR, wearing the same colour scheme and sitting alongside the Vantage Pro, is perhaps slightly more attainable, although only just. It uses the 6.0-litre V12 of the regular Rapide, breathing through a new quad exhaust system. It sits on giant 21-inch wheels and has a full-height AMR signature grille, front splitter, side sills, a rear diffuser and an 'aero flip' on the boot lid. Carbon fibre is used outside and in, forming those gorgeous bucket seats that are again finished in the Dark Knight with Lime Green accents.
Anything else?
The core AMR models will be built by Aston Martin's central vehicle engineering teams, while the AMR Pro models fall under the auspices of Q by Aston Martin Advanced Operations - the department that has already given us the Vantage GT12, Vantage GT8 and Vulcan hypercar. And Dr Andy Palmer, AM's president and CEO, gave car fans some very good news when he said: "I'm incredibly excited to announce that we will be putting both the Vantage AMR Pro and Rapide AMR into production: the Vantage in an extremely limited series of no more than seven cars; the Rapide as a run of only 210 cars. They are the start of something very exciting - a programme that will eventually see an AMR version of every model in the Aston Martin range."