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.