Aston Martin to produce Vanquish Zagato

ASTON MARTIN has announced it will produce 99 Vanquish Zagato coupes after an enthusiastic response to a concept of the same name unveiled at last month’s Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este classic car show on the banks of Italy’s Lake Como.

According to British publication Autocar all 99 Zagatos are already spoken for, and Aston Martin has confirmed to GoAuto that two or three examples will make it to Australia.

UK pricing for the super-exclusive Aston is reportedly in the region of £500,000 ($A983,000), but after import duties and Luxury Car Tax are added, that amount will rocket well into seven-digit territory once the cars arrive Down Under next year.

With bespoke bodywork crafted from large carbon-fibre panels that reduce the number of shut-lines, the collectible Vanquish features a double-bubble roof design that is one of the hallmarks of Italian coachbuilder Zagato.

The overall proportions are recognisably Aston, with some inspiration taken from the British brand’s recent hypercars in areas such as the circular bladed LED tail-lights using technology from the Vulcan track special and a door mirror shape similar to that of the One-77.

Cues from the new DB11 grand tourer, including the side strakes that extend from behind the front wheel arches on to the doors and the sculpted retractable spoiler that dissects the tail-lights.

Inside, alongside wall-to-wall leather upholstery that on the seats is quilted with contrasting Zagato emblems, carbon-fibre trim is arranged in a herringbone pattern and garnished with anodised bronze surrounds for the air-conditioning vents, rotary controllers.

Under the Zagato’s vented bonnet is Aston Martin’s venerable hand-built 6.0-litre V12, tweaked to produce 441kW – 20kW up on the Vanquish on which it is based. Acceleration from 0-100km/h is expected to be 3.5 seconds, compared with 4.1s in the standard Vanquish.

Prolific Twitter user, Aston Martin president and CEO Andy Palmer, took to the social media platform to gauge public reaction from outside the exclusive Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este event.

He tweeted: “We had so much attention this weekend about the Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato – should we produce it.”

The overwhelming response was positive, so the decision was quickly made and customer deliveries will start in the first quarter of next year, with each of the 99 examples to be built to order at Aston Martin’s factory in Gaydon, England.

The Vanquish Zagato is the company’s fifth collaborative effort with the Milanese coachbuilder, their last project based on a V12 Vantage and unveiled as a concept in 2011, again at Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este.

Aston Martin and Zagato conceived the V12 Zagato as a 50th anniversary celebration of the iconic DB4GT Zagato and thrashed the race-bred concept through the Nurburgring 24 Hours to prove its engineering credentials.

Production of that car was announced in 2012 and limited to 150 units, with at least one making its way to Australia, carrying a pricetag estimated at more than $1 million after import duties and luxury car tax.

In addition to the original Aston DB4GT Zagato, the Italian firm also made limited-edition versions of the 1986 V8 Vantage and Volante models, the DB7 Zagato of 2002 and US-only two-seat DB-AR1 (American Roadster 1).

The classic DB4GT Zagato is now valued at more than £10 million ($A19.7m).