Overview

The Vanquish was developed in the wake of a GT concept car, the Project Vantage concept car, which debuted with a V-12 engine at the North American International Auto Show in January 1998. The production model was unveiled in 2000, and series production began in 2001 (the car arrived in the United States as a 2002 model). The car was largely unchanged until 2005, when the Vanquish S model debuted at the 2004 Paris Auto Show , with more power, slight styling revisions, and new wheels.

Design

Aston Martin announced that the last 40 cars built would have a new 'Ultimate Black’ exterior color, upgraded interior, and personalized sill plaques. More significantly, the Ultimate Edition was the first Vanquish to be offered with a conventional stick-shift manual transmission. The auto-shift manual gearbox in the original Vanquish has been widely criticized (perhaps most infamously by Jeremy Clarkson on the BBC's Top Gear program), so this change was greeted with approval by the automotive press.