New Aston Martin Vantage Roadster sports fastest-folding roof

Aston Martin has revealed the new Vantage Roadster, which the company hopes will provide a boost to underwhelming Vantage sales.

The convertible Vantage is said to “amplify the emotional appeal” of the two-seater and receives what Aston claims is the fastest fully automatic soft-top hood in the business – going from opened to closed (and vice versa) in under 7sec at speeds of up to 50kph.

The roof itself adds a modest 60kg to the overall weight of the Vantage thanks to a ‘Z-fold’ roof mechanism and lightweight structural bracing. This means that the Roadster – which uses the same 510hp, 4.0-litre V8 as its coupé counterpart – is capable of 0-100kph in 3.7sec and a top speed of 306kph; thus making it 0.2sec and 8kph slower than those of the hard-top car.

Aston says the Roadster retains the coupé’s “strong dynamic ability and sporting character with no compromise to feel or refinement.” It uses the same electronic and mechanical chassis systems as the coupé but has a bespoke tune for the rear suspension, altered software for the adaptive dampers and a recalibrated ESP system. The three-mode chassis control system has also been tuned specifically for the model.

The Vantage loses 150 litres of boot capacity, as compared with the coupé, yet maintains a respectable 200 litres, which Aston says is large enough for a full-size golf bag and its accessories.

The British manufacturer is also using the launch of the Vantage Roadster to introduce a slew of new options across the Vantage range. Most notably, the 7-speed manual gearbox launched on the limited-run Vantage AMR is now available to order on the standard coupé. There’s also a new, more traditional ‘vane’ grille design option that can be ordered on both the coupé and the drop-top, sitting alongside the existing ‘hunter’ grille. New finishing colours and alloy-wheel designs are also available.

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Aston Martin Vantage

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