Aston Martin V12 Vanquish

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Information about Aston Martin V12 Vanquish

The Aston Martin Vanquish is a grand tourer, designed by Ian Callum and manufactured by Aston Martin. From its 2001 (11 years ago) introduction to its cancellation, it was Aston Martin's flagship vehicle. Its rise to recognition by the wider public came after being featured as the official James Bond car in the movie Die Another Day. It was discontinued in 2007 (5 years ago). The Aston Martin DBS (15 walls) V12 will temporarily replace it atop Aston's lineup pending the 2010 (2 years ago) introduction of a replacement.

History

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 Jan. 1998 (14 years ago). The production model was unveiled in 2000 (12 years ago), and series production began in 2001 (11 years ago) (the car arrived in the United States as a 2002 (10 years ago) model).

The car was largely unchanged until 2005 (7 years ago), when the Vanquish S model debuted at the 2004 (8 years ago) Paris Auto Show , with more power, slight styling revisions, and new wheels. It also incorporated the features of a 2004 (8 years ago) option package, the Sports Dynamic Pack, which incorporated sportier suspension, steering, and brake features. This model was sold for the 2005 (7 years ago) (alongside the base Vanquish) and 2006 (6 years ago) (as a stand-alone) model years in the United States with only minor running changes; it was not sold in the States for 2007 (5 years ago).

The end of the Vanquish's production run was celebrated with the Vanquish Ultimate Edition. Aston Martin announced that the last 40 cars built would have a new 'Ultimate Black’ exterior colour, 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. Aston Martin offered to retrofit the new gearbox to any Vanquish, for a cost of £13,250.

Aston Martin was frequently rumoured to be considering a roadster version of the Vanquish, especially in response to the Ferrari (95 walls) 550 Barchetta Pininfarina, but no such version ever emerged. The Vanquish was the basis of two concept cars, both shown at the International Geneva Motor Show in 2004 (8 years ago), the Zagato Roadster (a 2-seat roadster) and the Bertone Jet 2 (a 2-door shooting brake).

Vanquish production ended on 19 Jul. 2007 (5 years ago), coinciding with the shutting of the company's Newport Pagnell factory after 49 years of operation. The last car was a Vanquish S Ultimate Edition in black.

In April, 2008 (4 years ago), its appearance in the 2002 (10 years ago) movie Die Another Day earned the Vanquish the number 3 spot on the list of Best movie Cars Ever, behind the Minis from The Italian Job, and KITT from Knight Rider.

Source: en.wikipedia.org

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