Behind The Wheel Of Aston Martin’s Fastest Vantage Ever
The 202-mph GT embodies “high performance in its purest and most explicit form.”
Before anyone else gets their hands on it, the fully functional prototype of any new Aston Martin car is delivered to “Customer No. 1”—aka Lawrence Stroll, the Canadian billionaire who took over the company in 2020. Aston Martin’s executive chairman didn’t merely acquire the storied automaker as an investment; a longtime fan of the marque before he ever took a financial interest in it, Stroll has a personal stake in ensuring any Aston Martin made under his watch is not only best in class, but worthy of ownership by him and his peers.
“As a hugely successful player in luxury retail, Mr. Stroll knows how important it is for any new product to be as perfect as can be,” Renato Bisignani, Aston Martin’s new global head of marketing and communications, says of the billionaire, who made much of his fortune by masterminding the IPO of Michael Kors’ eponymous fashion brand in 2011.
“But besides that, he truly wants a car that he can drive and enjoy every day.” As such Stroll has greenlit a massive investment in development to ensure Aston cannot only compete with the likes of Bentley and Ferrari, but eventually places above them in terms of combining the luxury of one with the performance of the other. Of course, this would be in addition to its own considerable heritage as the brand made famous by James Bond.
We imagine Stroll was especially keen to get his hands on the prototype of the marque’s brand-new Vantage, which he drove extensively in Switzerland (his country of residence), according to Bisignani, adding his input for tweaks to the finished product. Also consulted on the new car was Fernando Alonso, lead driver for the Aston Martin Aramco Formula One team.
Inspired in part by Aston’s groundbreaking, $2 million One-77 supercar, the new Vantage has shed its image as Aston’s “entry level” sports car and gone back to its roots, with an audacious redesign, both inside and out revealing its bloodline—boosted by a hand-built 656-hp, twin-turbo V8 engine good for a top speed of 202 mph, and capable of 0–60 mph in 3.4 seconds.
That’s 30 percent more power than its predecessor, making it the fastest and most driver-focused Aston Martin ever to bear the Vantage nameplate. “The Vantage name has much to live up to, which is why this newest model makes an unwavering commitment to high performance in its purest and most explicit form,” as Aston Martin Lagonda CEO Amedeo Felisa puts it.
“Engineered for real drivers” is Aston’s tagline for the new Vantage, a fitting catchphrase in an age when it seems like most supercars are used more for Instagram likes than actual transportation. “Vantage champions the qualities that have gripped enthusiasts for generations but are increasingly hard to find in today’s sports car market,” as Aston puts it. “Vantage makes a stand for disenfranchised devotees of breathtaking power, razor-sharp handling and the perfect balance of a finely tuned front engine, rear-wheel drive chassis.”
“Aston Martin is blessed with many evocative model names, but none conjure excitement and dynamism like Vantage,” adds the marque’s Chief Creative Officer Marek Reichman, who is responsible for some of Aston’s most beautiful vehicles. “To capture the new car’s huge uplift in power and performance, we’ve accentuated its physique, increasing its muscularity and sharpening its sculptural form.”
Reichman notes that, “We took some inspiration from the One-77, but we wanted Vantage to express its intent and potency more explicitly. One look and you know it packs a real punch, but there’s an elegance of form and proportion that hints at the sophistication that underpins its raw power. This balance of instant visual impact and slow-burn charisma mirrors the driving experience and perfectly captures the essence of Vantage.”
The Vantage name first appeared in 1950 when it was used to denote an uprated engine package for the DB2 grand tourer that also proved itself competition worthy. Then in 1964, it was applied as a model designation to a high-performance version of the DB5, becoming the new flagship of the range. A stand-alone Vantage model was introduced in the early 1970s, from which point the nameplate has “played an increasingly prominent role in Aston Martin’s model lineup,” the brand says. “Synonymous with immaculate style, unforgettable performance and inimitable character, Vantage embodies the sporting qualities for which this evocative name has become renowned.”
Aston launched the much-awaited new Vantage earlier this year with a VIP program based in Seville, Spain, demonstrating that it too is equally at home on road or track, in this case the Circuito Monteblanco, one of the longest circuits in Spain, used for a number of motorsport events throughout the year, including F1 testing. That Seville also happens to be one of the most beautiful cities in Europe only added to its appeal as a backdrop for the ravishing new supercar.
Setting up its launch HQ at the new Nobu Sevilla hotel, Aston brought in British TV presenter, author and wine expert (and Aston Martin owner) Olly Smith to curate a selection of local vintages paired with Nobu’s world-famous cuisine. All serving to underscore Seville’s certified hotspot status, complete with a new luxe book called “Sevilla Arte” from Assouline declaring it one of the most beautiful and captivating locales in the world (can a James Bond movie production be far behind?).
In addition to the Vantage road car, Aston has also introduced GT3 and GT4 racing variants, while a Vantage bedecked in signature Aston Martin Racing Green livery is doing duty as an F1 Safety Car this season as well. With Alonso solidly in the top 10 this year after placing an impressive fourth in 2023—while Aston took fifth overall in the constructor’s championship—he has the rest of the season to rise in the ranks, and is fully capable of doing so. Simultaneously building a dominant presence in international GT racing gives the brand a broader base of customer engagement and reinforces the “real drivers” ethos.
And in 2025, it plans to double down by aiming for an overall win at Le Mans with the wicked 1,160-hp Valkyrie AMR-LMH hypercar, with hopes to make it a front-line challenger in the FIA World Endurance Championship—something Aston has been building up to with the experience gained not only with each F1 race, but the launch of highly refined new models like the Vantage and DB12. Though they’ve successfully competed more recently in the GTE class, Aston’s last overall win at Le Mans was in 1959 with the DBR1 driven by Carroll Shelby.
It’s safe to say that Stroll would like to add a Valkyrie victory to the considerable accomplishments racked up in his first four years at the helm of one of the world’s most iconic and illustrious auto marques.
Read This Next
