Aston Martin has whipped the roof off the Vanquish Coupe to create this mesmerising new Volante derivative. Continuing a 60-year lineage of exquisite Volantes, the newcomer promises to be the most-powerful and fastest front-engined convertible car in the entire world.
Does it have the same V12 as the hard-topped version?
It most certainly does. In fact, the vast majority of the Aston Martin Vanquish Volante is identical to the Vanquish Coupe, save for that bit of fabric up top. So, the 5.2-litre biturbo V12 delivers up to 835hp and 1,000Nm to the rear wheels through an eight-speed ZF automatic gearbox, complete with an electronic limited-slip differential.
The top speed of 345km/h is identical to the hard-topped Vanquish's, although the Volante is marginally slower to 100km/h from a standstill, recording a time of 3.4 seconds as opposed to 3.3, courtesy of a 95kg weight gain.
That's not terrible for a big soft-top like this, though, and is kept to this reasonable level by the fact that Aston has opted for what is called a 'K-fold' roof. This is lightweight and compact when stowed, measuring only 260mm deep when it is stacked behind the two seats of the Volante's cabin, and it can be lowered in just 14 seconds or raised in 16 seconds, even on the move at speeds of up to 50km/h.
Mind, it saps even more of what little boot space the Vanquish had in the first place: with the Coupe rating at a meagre 248 litres in its cargo bay, with the roof up the Volante scores 219 litres, reducing to a cramped 187 litres with the lid down.
Right, so it's quick, but will it drive as sweetly?
Hopefully, as it has much of the same advanced chassis hardware as its tin-topped relation. The weight of the Volante has not only gone up, but the distribution of its mass has also changed, so Aston has tuned the suspension - complete with advanced Bilstein DTX dampers - to cope with this subtle shift and increase.
The Volante is also fitted with the same carbon-ceramic brakes (with torque-vectoring) that reduce unsprung mass by 27kg over conventional steel items, and it runs on the same grippy Pirelli P Zero tyres which have been specifically developed for the Vanquish. Its tough bonded-aluminium structure also increases the torsional rigidity of the Vanquish Volante by 75 per cent when compared to its predecessor, the DBS 770 Ultimate Volante.
With just two seats, shouldn't it be a Roadster, not a Volante?
Ah, good point. Well, the current Vanquish Coupe is only a two-seater anyway, so it would seem daft to try and shoehorn a pair of unusable chairs into the rear of the Volante. However, Roadster is an epithet reserved for the sportier Vantage V8 and V12 models of the modern era, whereas Volante is appended to the ultimate in Aston convertibles.
Indeed, the Vanquish Volante arrives 60 years after the first V-named model from the exotic marque, the Short Chassis Volante of 1965. That was an ultra-rare beast, with just 37 examples built in a one-year production period. And the lineage has been continuing on some magnificent Aston convertibles ever since.
How about the rest of the passenger compartment?
It's top-end luxury within, just like the Coupe model, complete with two new buttons - one for the roof mechanism, the other to more rapidly access advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) fitted to the Vanquish Volante.
Beyond the added switchgear, the same twin 10.25-inch digital displays and stonking 1,170-watt, 15-speaker Bowers & Wilkins sound system are fitted to the convertible as you'd find in the Vanquish Coupe.
Anything else to add before we get to the thorny subject of price?
How about some words from some of the company's top brass, beginning with Adrian Hallmark, Aston Martin's CEO, who said: “For 60 years, Aston Martin Volantes have defined the art of elegant, sporting, open-top motoring. With its stunning looks and outstanding V12 engine producing more power than any other front-engine production car on sale, Vanquish Volante has taken this philosophy to an entirely new level. At Aston Martin we are proud to be doing such justice to our heritage while, as the unprecedented performance of the Vanquish Volante shows, keeping our eyes firmly focused on the future.”
Meanwhile, Simon Newton, Aston's director of vehicle performance and attributes, added: “The drive to ensure Vanquish Volante delivered the same class-leading performance as the Vanquish Coupe meant that, from inception, the engineering team worked on both Coupe and Volante simultaneously, allowing us to retain the dynamic capabilities and character of Vanquish Coupe with no compromise upon removing the roof.”
And while you can see how drop-dead gorgeous this drop-top is in the pictures, Marek Reichman - the executive VP and chief creative officer of Aston Martin - explained: “The opportunity to create a true flagship Volante is rare. The challenge is always to maintain Aston Martin's core brand DNA and it was vitally important to create the Volante alongside the Coupe in order to deliver excellence in proportion and drama. Vanquish Volante epitomises this; not only is it one of the most breathtakingly beautiful cars ever to wear the nameplate, it goes far beyond the expected and, like Coupe, captures the immense performance and intended purpose of a flagship model.”
Go on, then - how much is it?
A colossal amount, here in Ireland. It'll be even more than the Coupe, obviously, and as the price for that (unofficially speaking) is 'if you have to ask then you can't afford it', clearly the Vanquish Volante is going to be out of the league of most of us mere mortals. That said, production will be limited to less than 1,000 units per year, so that should preserve its long-term value, with the lucky customers taking first deliveries of their cars in Q3 of this year.