Drawing heavily on the technological advances made by the One-77, a car that was only replicated 77 times. The Vanquish also uses carbon fibre in the body panels (99 percent) as well as the chassis. The One 77 also used Carbon fibre for the chassis but it’s body panels were a mixture of carbon fibre and aluminium. The result is the Vanquish 25 percent more rigid and about 15 percent lighter than the DBS.

‘In a way the Vanquish is the negative of the One-77,’ says Aston Martin design director Marek Reichman during a recent press preview for the AM310. ‘The One-77 has a carbon chassis with an aluminium skin; this is the other way around.’

The famous 6-litre V12 engine now produces a whopping 565bhp and a 457lb ft of torque, which gives a 0-100kph time of 4.1 seconds and a top speed of 295 kph. So there’s plenty of under-the-bonnet muscle to back up its muscle car build. Up front it’s still very much Aston Martin the side panels offer that hollow-cheeked look of someone in peak condition. This car is somewhere between American muscle and continental elegance; a thoroughly British identity.

The car is set at about €223,600 and for that price you would expect to feel pampered when behind the wheel and you do, with the full grain leather interior. The layout is One-77 inspired, but the central console is better integrated meaning there is more leg room. There’s also more headroom and the trunk is enlarged by 65 percent so it’s faster, lighter, bigger and generally more luxurious. The 1000-watt Bang & Olufsen BeoSound 15-speaker audio setup, and a Garmin satellite navigation system with 6.5-inch LCD display tick the right boxes in terms of quality features.

Along with the new images Aston Martin have given us the opportunity to while away the time configuring your very own model on their website. If you fancy this car and fancy seeing what your very own model would look like then click here. And when you’re finished you can send through your order with just a click of the mouse. It’s as easy as that. Just the small matter of the funding to work out. Not sure if they accept credit cards.

By Hugo Mc Cafferty