One of the biggest stories this week at the New York Auto Show is the one about Aston Martin. The legendary British brand has finally released an unprecedented sub-$100,000 machine, a more athletic version of the Vantage that skips luxury ornamentation and saves buyers $20,000 in the process.
Julian Jenkins, Aston Martin’s president of the Americas, said the new whip is a novel verse on Aston’s most successful line (the Vantage), which was launched in 2006 and has sold more than 30,000 units since then—not a lot compared to BMW and Mercedes, but plenty enough for Aston to make a profit and then some.
“Vantage was a tremendous success for us,” Jenkins said. “That car has really become a fixture on the race tracks of the world, so we wanted to create a really sporty car which would appeal to the sportier buyer at a price that would appeal to a few more customers as well.”
Indeed, the 2015 Aston Martin Vantage GT will appeal to people who thought Aston was out of reach. It has a 4.7-liter V8 that gets 430 horsepower – 10 more than the standard Vantage – and 361 pound-feet of torque, which will get to 60mph in 4.6-seconds. Buyers can choose between a 6-speed manual transmission (an ever-increasing rarity) and a 7-speed automated manual gearbox; sport exhaust and sport suspension come standard. Top speed is 190 mph.
Another important aspect of this car, though, is that it is a preliminary look at what we can expect from Aston for the next few years—the company has invested more than 500 million pounds in developing new product like this.
In the meantime, Jenkins suggested, Aston acolytes should spend some time just getting acquainted with the latest.
“I’ve got no particular advice for how to drive it, other than enjoy it—that’s the obvious statement,” he said. “That’s what an Aston martin is all about. We’re very excited about it. We think it’s going to have tremendous appeal and success.”
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