Vanquish Coupe

Segment
Coupe

The official launch of the new Aston Martin Vanquish has just been held at the Aston Martin showroom in Paris, and autosblog.fr was on hand to capture these first live images of the British-built supercar. On display was a model sporting Bridgewater Bronze paint, 20-inch alloys in a 20-spoke satin black design housing black calipers, and inside was a cabin finished in Winter Wheat shaded leather. The car is built on an updated version of the DBS's platform.

Although it's not entirely new, Aston Martin gave it a number of improvements and managed to lighten the platform through the use of carbon fiber in the rear structure and hallow-cast aluminum that replaces the solid cast aluminum at the front end. The front chassis structure is now 13 percent lighter and even the Vanquish's body panels are made from carbon fiber. All told, it weighs 1,739kg so 54kg less than the DBS and also boasts a 50/50 weight distribution. Power comes from a revised version of the naturally aspirated 5.9-liter V12 with 565hp and 457lb-ft of peak torque.

The front-mounted V12 is mated to the same six-speed automatic slushbox as was in the DBS. The 2013 Vanquish will arrive in European showrooms in late 2012 and the first U.S. deliveries will be in early 2013. Pricing will start at $279,995 in the U.S.