Video: Aston Martin teases all-new V12 Vantage

Add Aston then to the ranks of exotic manufacturers who seem to be leaning into what feels like a crescendo for internal combustion over the next couple of years. What else do we know? Well, from the video it not only sounds like the Vantage has had a heart transplant but that said heart has been juiced up a bit. Those revs sound a little higher than what we’ve heard to date from the 5.2-litre V12, no? That along with the “it’s not just a Limited Edition, it’s a Final Edition” line seems to suggest this V12 Vantage will go beyond the engine swap and visual tickle the old car got. Prototypes that have been spotted testing conceal what appears to be all new bodywork with a wider track, bigger grille and central V12 Speedster-style exhaust outlets.

As for performance specs, it’s a tough guess. The first V12 Vantage matched the contemporary DBS for power, with which it shared its engine. This time around, that would make the new V12 Vantage a 720PS-plus (530kW) car. If this car is to share a relation to the V12 Speedster, 700PS-plus (514kW) would check out too.

Quite what it relates to is a good question as well. At the launch of the original Vantage almost four years ago now, Aston claimed it’d be a very difficult graft getting the twin-turbo V12 into the Vantage for a return of that flagship model. That was then confirmed when the V12 Speedster was revealed, bringing a DBS front structure cradling that engine, connected to the rear structure of a Vantage, even though it had a Vantage-esque face. There’s a solid chance the new V12 Vantage could be a DBS/Vantage hybrid.

Regardless of how it comes, we’ll be delighted to see it return. The last V12 Vantage bowed out in 2016, with the new car representing the last of the models in the previous line-up to be replaced in this new generation of Astons.