Aston springs Zagato Speedster and Shooting Brake

ASTON Martin has confirmed it will expand its Vanquish Zagato range to a family of four with the addition of an open-top Speedster and long-roof Shooting Brake.

The two new variants – to be revealed in the flesh at the annual Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in California this weekend – will follow the existing Coupe and Volante convertible into production in England next year.

Australian availability and price is yet to be confirmed, but the Speedster is already sold out, with the global production run of just 28 cars set for delivery in 2018.

The Speedster is expected to be by far the most expensive of the Vanquish Zagato variants, with Britain’s Autocar speculating that the UK price will be just short of £1 million ($A1.6m) – almost double the price of the Zagato Coupe and Volante.

Aston says it will build 99 Shooting Brakes – the same volume as the Coupe and Volante – for a total run of 325. It also will begin production next year.

Although the Shooting Brake looks like a wagon, it has just two seats, like the other Vanquish Zagato variants.

Based on the Vanquish S and styled in partnership with Italian design house Zagato, the Shooting Brake and Speedster will share Aston’s 441kW 6.0-litre V12 and eight-speed automatic transmission.

Aston says this drivetrain should shave about a tenth of a second from the standard Vanquish’s 4.2-second dash from zero to 100km/h. That appears to be a smidgeon slower than the Zagato Coupe and Volante which cover the sprint in 3.5 and 3.9 seconds respectively.

Aston Martin chief creative officer Marek Reichman said Aston had created a Vanquish Zagato family to satisfy different customer preferences.

“Some prefer the purity of a Coupe, but others love the idea of something more extreme, like the Speedster,” he said. “And yes, some of them have ordered one example of each. There’s always an over-demand from our clients and patrons.

“We could easily fulfil demand for more cars than this, but we want Zagato to remain something very special. We’re creating collectibles, future concours cars. With only 325 cars worldwide, divided between 99 Coupes, 99 Volantes, 28 Speedsters and 99 Shooting Brakes – they are still the rarest of the rare.”

Aston has released just one image – a side profile - of the Shooting Brake which appears to be a direct rival to Ferrari’s GTC4Lusso that was officially launched at last year’s Paris motor show.

In Australia, the Lusso sells for $503,888 plus on-road costs for the rear-wheel-drive 3.9 litre V8, stepping up to $578,888 for the AWD 6.3-litre V12.

All Aston Vanquish Zagato variants get hand-crafted carbon-fibre panels to save weight. Each car is said to take 2000 man hours to complete at the Gaydon plant in Warwickshire.

The new Vanquish variants continue Aston’s 60-year collaboration with Zagato, starting with the DB4 GT Zagato.

Like Porsche Speedsters of yore, the Vanquish Zagato Speedster has a pair of streamlined “speed hump” cowls behind the seat headrests, apparently representing Zagato’s signature double-bubble roof style. They appear to incorporate roll-over protection bars.

Aston says the roof is of carbon-fibre, but does not say how it is removed or whether it travels within the car.

The Shooting Brake is described as “an individual and exceptionally practical GT”.

The stretched double-bubble roof has glass inlays to let light flood into the cockpit. At the back, it finishes with a powered tailgate.

Aston says the “luxuriously trimmed” rear cabin area comes with a tailored luggage set.

The Shooting Brake’s dash is fashioned from herringbone-pattern carbon-fibre and fitted with anodised bronze rotary controls.