BRITISH car maker Aston Martin has again teamed up with coachbuilder Zagato, and the company last week revealed the latest products of their occasional, but longstanding, partnership.
First announced was the Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato Volante, which was immediately followed by confirmation that the Vanquish Zagato Speedster and Vanquish Zagato Shooting Brake versions will be produced as well. This raises to four variants the Vanquish Zagato family, starting with the Coupe, which Aston Martin started building in late 2016, with a run limited to 99 examples.
The car maker said it has begun building the Volante, deliveries of the planned 99 units of which is expected to be completed before 2018 ends. Deliveries of the 28 Speedsters — the smallest run among the litter — is also forecast to conclude in 2018.
Meanwhile, Aston Martin said it would start building the Shooting Brake beginning in 2018, with production capped at 99 cars. This means only a total of 325 Vanquish Zagato models will be built.
All four cars are based on the Vanquish S, so these all come with a 596hp, naturally aspirated V12 that’s mated to Aston Martin’s Touchtronic III transmission. Combined with adaptive damping — each variant is tuned differently — the Vanquish Zagato cars promise “exceptional driving pleasure that is every bit as stimulating and memorable as their design,” Aston Martin said.
It added the Speedster and Shooting Brake “represent the two extremes of the Vanquish Zagato family,” the former as an open-top, ultra high-performance sports car, the latter as a two-seat GT with a boot. All four variants flaunt Zagato’s signature double-bubble roof, with body panels fashioned from carbon fiber.
Marek Reichman, Aston Martin’s chief creative officer, said: “We haven’t released Zagato models as a family before, but the idea is not without precedent. Think back to the DB7 Zagato and DB AR1, or the V8 Zagato Coupe and Volante. We’ve simply taken things a few steps further now.”
