A powerful engine up front, drive to the rear wheels, a luxurious interior and gorgeous styling – that’s the classic grand tourer formula, and the Aston Martin Vanquish is among the few cars that adheres best to it. As the Vanquish nameplate completes its 25th birthday, let’s peer into the past to see how the flagship Aston Martin GT has evolved over its three generations.
First-gen V12 Vanquish (2001-2007)
The V12 Vanquish debuted at the 2001 Geneva Motor Show as a successor to the Aston Martin Virage, which was on sale from 1993 to 2000. Styled by legendary British car designer Ian Callum – he also designed the Ford RS200, Nissan R390, Jaguar C-X75 and F-Type, among others – the V12 Vanquish adopted a muscular look inspired by that of the Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato, along with the classic long bonnet, short rear GT proportions.
Doing justice to the V12 Vanquish’s pretty design was a sonorous 5.9-litre naturally aspirated V12 belting out 460hp and 542Nm, paired solely with a 6-speed AMT. This allowed for a claimed 0-100kph time of 4.5 seconds and a top speed of 306kph. Moreover, the V12 Vanquish incorporated fairly advanced technologies at the time, like a bonded aluminium composite chassis with a carbonfibre transmission tunnel – Lotus helped Aston Martin with this – and a drive-by-wire throttle.
The V12 Vanquish also gained some star power by appearing in the 2002 James Bond film Die Another Day and the 2003 remake of The Italian Job. By the end of its production run, around 1,492 V12 Vanquish units were built.
V12 Vanquish S (2004-2007)
Aston Martin revealed a more powerful version of the V12 Vanquish, dubbed the S, at the 2004 Paris Motor Show. The V12 Vanquish S uprated the engine’s output to 527hp and 578Nm, dropping the claimed 0-100kph time to 4.2 seconds. Tweaked gearing and a slightly lower drag coefficient – courtesy of a new front splitter and an integrated bootlid spoiler – allowed the V12 Vanquish S to achieve a rated top speed of 322kph.
Additionally, the V12 Vanquish S included stiffer suspension, updated steering, and bigger brakes, along with styling changes like new wheel designs, ‘Vanquish S’ badging on the tailgate and a revised front bumper. Aston Martin built approximately 1,086 units of the V12 Vanquish S.
Vanquish Zagato Roadster (2004)
The very first drop-top derivative of the Vanquish was the one-off Zagato Roadster prototype, which was unveiled at the 2004 Geneva Motor Show. It featured a retractable canvas roof with a completely restyled rear end, and was purchased by an American collector at the 2004 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.
Vanquish Bertone Jet 2 (2004)
Also shown at the 2004 Geneva Motor Show was an even more unprecedented derivative of the V12 Vanquish: a 2-door shooting brake. Styled by Italian design firm Bertone, the Vanquish Bertone Jet 2 was extensively reworked (and 210mm longer) on the outside.
Second-gen Vanquish (2012-2018)
2012 saw the arrival of the second-gen Vanquish, which is regarded among the best-looking Aston Martins ever made. The second-gen Vanquish’s design borrowed cues from the Aston Martin One-77, allowing for longer, more fluid proportions than those of its predecessor.
Under the bonnet, the 2012 Vanquish packed the same 5.9-litre naturally aspirated V12 as the earlier model but with an output bump to 573hp and 620Nm. Unlike the first-gen model, this Vanquish used a more sophisticated ZF-sourced 6-speed torque-converter automatic, which was replaced with an 8-speed unit from 2014 onwards.
The second-gen Vanquish’s aluminium structure was 30 percent stiffer and lighter than that of the prior model, and thanks to its carbonfibre bodywork and subframe, the newer one was 25 percent more torsionally rigid too. This lent greater sporting credentials to the second-gen Vanquish, including a claimed 0-100kph time of 4.1 seconds. Oddly, the top speed was rated at 295kph – 11kph lower than the first-gen V12 Vanquish.
Vanquish Volante (2013)
Just a year after the second-gen Vanquish went on sale, Aston Martin introduced its Volante convertible version. The Vanquish Volante came equipped with a soft top that could fold away in 14 seconds, and it retained the coupe’s 573hp 5.9-litre V12. Due to a 105kg increase in weight, the Vanquish Volante’s 0-100kph time increased to 4.2 seconds, but the 295kph top speed remained unchanged.
Vanquish S (2016)
In keeping with its predecessor, the second-gen Vanquish received a sportier ‘S’ variant in 2016 that upped the V12’s output to 603hp and 630Nm, enabling a quicker 0-100kph time of 3.5 seconds and a higher 323kph top speed. The 2016 Vanquish S also featured revised bumpers, lots of exposed carbonfibre trim on the bodywork, bonnet louvres, new alloys, and more.
Vanquish Zagato (2016)
Italian coachbuilding firm Zagato and Aston Martin teamed up in 2016 to build four derivatives of the second-gen Vanquish, namely a coupe, a convertible, a roadster and a shooting brake. These featured thorough changes to the Vanquish’s bodywork, particularly new bumpers, a larger grille, circular tail-lamps, bespoke wheel designs, among others. Ninety-nine units (each) of the Vanquish Zagato Coupe, Volante and shooting brake were built, while the Speedster (roadster) saw a production run of just 28 units.
Third-gen Vanquish (2024-present)
In 2024, Aston Martin pulled the covers off the current-gen Vanquish. Built on an all-new platform and powered by a 5.2-litre twin-turbo V12 – the first turbocharged Vanquish – the third-gen model generates a whopping 835hp and 1,001Nm. An 8-speed ZF torque converter funnels that grunt to the rear wheels, propelling the third-gen Vanquish from a standstill to 100kph in a claimed 3.2 seconds – nearly a full second quicker than its predecessor – onwards to a rated top speed of 344kph.
All of that searing performance comes wrapped in a stylish body that adopts a design language similar to that of other modern Aston Martin offerings, such as the DB12 and Vantage. However, the third-gen Vanquish looks considerably more menacing thanks to its bulging haunches, carbonfibre bonnet louvres and side strakes, integrated ducktail spoiler, quad exhaust tips, 21-inch alloys, rear LED light blades and active rear diffuser.
Aston Martin will build only 1,000 units of the third-gen Vanquish annually. The new Vanquish was also launched in India last year at a price tag of Rs 8.85 crore, rivalling the likes of the Ferrari 12Cilindri as one of the few remaining pure-petrol V12 GTs on sale.
Vanquish Volante (2025)
The third-gen Vanquish Volante drop-top debuted in 2025 as Aston Martin’s most powerful convertible to date. Expectedly, it carries over the 835hp twin-turbo V12, but the fabric roof mechanism – which opens in 14 seconds and closes in 16 seconds at up to 50kph – adds 95kg to the Vanquish’s kerb weight. This increases the Vanquish Volante’s 0-100kph time to 3.3 seconds, but the top speed remains unchanged.
Uday Singh
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