V For Victory

The All-new Vantage Is a Sure Sign Aston Martin Is Finally Winning at This Whole Independent-sportscar-marque Thing…
 

- Dejan Jovanovic

 It’s weird standing there looking at a ‘new’ Aston Martin. You don’t expect to go to London and see the Big Ben, spruced up with a digital clock. In this flurried automotive industry where Porsche launches a car every Tuesday, some things remained a nostalgic constant, things like Caterhams and Suzuki Jimnys, and Aston Martins.

They always looked the same, Marek Reichman’s Astons, beautiful, instantly recognisable, and they went with two Ford Mondeo V6s from the Nineties thrown together to make a V12. I mean, they were naturally aspirated, which tells you everything you need to know in the turbo age.

Aston was a small company making do with what they had, which evidently going by the Mondeo connection, wasn’t a lot. Gaydon however had a knack for making this count their way — tradition, they would call it. Heritage. Legacy. Everyone else, including this hack, called it outdated.

Now that the company has rolled out its flagship DB11 line premiering a new vehicle architecture, we’ve had the first glimpse into the new Aston Martin. It’s a more German Aston Martin, thanks to a Mercedes-Benz tie-up — Gaydon gets tech, Stuttgart gets stock.

As an independent, outside of the nurturing Groups and all the cost-sharing that entails, Aston Martin was on its own left to survive in a huge pond. They sell just over 5,000 cars a year — Porsche sells that many 911s every two months. In order to grow their figures Gaydon was left with no choice but to gain access to some new technology, somewhere, anywhere. Good thing it ended up being Germany.

In exchange for a small share in the company, Mercedes lets Aston Martin use its AMG powertrains hand-built in the town of Affalterbach, as well as kit like infotainment systems which were sorely needed to replace the ancient outgoing units.