Will the upcoming Rapide (S) get the new V12 from the Vanquish?

Last week I already posted spy shots of a possible Rapide S. And today, both Autocar.co.uk and Leftlanenews.com came with more rumors about this future Rapide. Both sites claim that next year’s Rapide will get the new V12 from the Vanquish. Which means it may get up to 565hp, but it also possible that the engine will be downtuned somewhat for the Rapide. The question still remains: will this just be the new MY2013 Rapide, replacing the current Rapide, or will it be a new Rapide S model, positioned next to the Rapide. Currently my guess is that this new Rapide will replace the old one.

Vanquish Volante – first renders

There never was a convertible version of the old Vanquish, but it’s highly likely that there will be a Volante edition of the fantastic new Vanquish. It will probably be announced in 2013, with first customer cars being delivered in 2014. Some photoshop artists couldn’t wait that long and decided to render their own interpretations of a Vanquish Volante.

First V12 Zagato spots – pics and video

It looks like Aston Martin has started delivering the first V12 Zagato’s to customers, because the first cars are being spotted on the streets now. Earlier this month, GTSpirit already published photos of a dark silver car spotted in London. Then a few days later, a nice blue one was captured by a spotter in Switzerland. For me, the car looked awesome from the first shots at Villa d’Este, but seeing in a normal street situation really makes it clear how brutal it looks.

The V12 Zagato just got even more exclusive

When the V12 Zagato was introduced, it was said to be limited to 150 cars. However, it looks like it will be even more exclusive than that. Aston Martin has now announced that the production of the V12 Zagato will instead be limited to 101 units, 49 less than the initial planning.

Meeting the maker: Barry Griffin

One cool thing I like about Aston Martins is the small plaque under the bonnet that says: HAND BUILT IN ENGLAND FINAL INSPECTION BY followed by the name of the “final inspector. My first Aston (a V8 Vantage Roadster) was inspected by SIMON WARD. The plaque in my current V8 Vantage S Roaster says PAUL GODDARD. But the final inspector of my favorite car, my V12 Vantage, is BARRY GRIFFIN.