Traversing many eras, the James Bond franchise has seen many villains, women and gadgets, but when it comes to the infamous super-spy's choice of vehicle, there only seemed one logical choice: Aston Martin. Sure, he often deviated from his winged wonder but the replacements never quite gelled or offered the charisma and panache that both he and the cars had helped entrench. The BMW 750iL in Tomorrow Never Dies for example, was such a feeble attempt On Her Majesty's part that the car chase proved to be about as exciting as test driving a shopping trolley, and even Q looked bored when detailing it's array of weapons. The recent efforts of Casino Royale even saw Daniel Craig piloting a Ford Mondeo and an Aston Martin DBS simultaneously, in a hateful juxtaposition of the awesome and the awful.
Now however, Bond could be given the chance to revisit an old favourite, as Aston Martin have decided to revive the hallowed name of the Vanquish and provides Hollywood with an opportunity to reunite two great institutions. Drawing heavily from the obscenely beautiful One-77, this new Vanquish is designed to replace the DBS when it goes on sale at the end of the year. Judging by the power output this new Aston is a more than capable replacement for the fiery DBS as the ever-present 6.0L V12 has been given a shot of life and now produces 573hp, amounting to an increase of 56 vital British thoroughbreds to its stable. Interestingly enough, the top speed is actually slower than the model it replaces but this number is insignificant- 183mph , if you must know- as the main reason for this car's existence is inducing low-speed mass hysteria as poor plebs bask in all it's R3.5mln glory.
Obviously, all recent Aston's are easy on the eyes but this new one can be seen as a climactic highlight of their current design language. From no angle does the Vanquish look wrong and it really is very hard to not drop one's jaw like a moron upon first gaze of that luscious side profile. The rear flanks have been made more curvaceous and raised, so now that the whole car arcs and rises elegantly. Aston Martin clearly recognise the potency of this silhouette as in their advertising bumf they state that it represents the "zenith of current Aston Martin design and engineering", a claim that both sees the present but admits change is on the horizon. It seems then that Bond's next move mustn't be to his gun or to the bra of the latest cover girl, but to the keys of the cars that like himself, embodies Britain. Moneypenny would approve.
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