Vantage Coupe

Segment
Coupe

Sometime later this year or early next, the redesigned 2018 Aston Martin Vantage will debut, and like its predecessor, it's expected to be beautiful. But how much will it resemble the DB11? Speaking to Car Advice, Aston Martin design chief Marek Reichman said there'll be a "huge difference" between the two designs. "One of the tasks that (CEO Andy Palmer) set me when he came on board, was that he takes his mum to the showroom and points to a DB11 and points to a Vantage and she should be able to tell the difference between the two cars."

That thinking is very much a good start, but will the new Vantage share anything with its big brother, design wise or mechanically? "You will see the new Vantage that there are only two things that are shared between the two products on the outside visually - the door handles. Everything else is new, the panel work is new and the bodywork is new," Reichman continued. However, there will be some shared components that are more difficult to spot, such as "some of the under-structure, the bonding methodology we use, the architecture is part of the same group, but the car is effectively an all-new car versus the DB11."

The only design clue Reichman offered was this: "The DB11 is a samurai sword and the Vantage is a scalpel." The Vantage "is a focused sports car versus a super GT," added Reichman. We also expect the new Vantage to ditch the naturally aspirated V8 and V12 for a twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8, courtesy of AMG. And fortunately, a manual gearbox, along with an automatic, will continue to be offered.