Aston Martin, the luxurious British sports car manufacturer long associated with James Bond films, has unveiled the 2015 V12 Vantage S Roadster.
The new sports car, available globally at dealerships later this year, will become the luxury British marque’s most potent, fastest and fastest-accelerating series production roadster.
Equipped with the latest 565 horsepower Aston Martin AM28 6.0-liter V12 engine, featuring state-of-the-art Bosch engine management, the car is capable of reaching 201 mph and sprinting from rest to 60 mph in 3.9 seconds.
The car’s new car’s gearbox, the Sportshift™III ASM (auto-shift manual) transmission, is engineered to exploit the full sporting potential of the V12 engine, the latest generation Sportshift™III hydraulically actuated automated manual transmission provides motorsport-style paddle shift changes for optimum performance delivery.
The unit, which replaces the six-speed manual gearbox found in the previous V12 Vantage Roadster, is 44 pounds lighter than its predecessor.
This race-derived and motorsport-proven technology – used routinely in Aston Martin Racing’s race-winning Vantage GT4, GT3 and GTE competition cars – provides for great driver control with only milliseconds of torque interruption and delivers precise and swift gear changes.
The Sportshift™III transaxle, from transmission experts Oerlikon Graziano, joins an extensive array of new sport and track-focused developments that ensure the V12 Vantage S Roadster is fully equipped to exploit the huge performance potential of its 6.0-liter naturally aspirated engine.
As Aston Martin’s most overtly sporting convertible car, with a more dynamic character even than the luxurious Vanquish Volante ultimate GT or refined DB9 Volante, the V12 Vantage S Roadster has been styled to reflect is position as the flagship convertible in the Vantage family.
In keeping with the V12 Vantage S Coupe, the Roadster does away with the famous aluminium vanes in the Aston Martin grille – replacing them with a carbon fibre arrangement that also includes sporty black or titanium silver mesh. Created to maximise airflow to the V12 engine, the new grille is inspired by both the remarkable CC100 Speedster Concept and the Vantage race cars.
Other distinguishing features of the V12 Vantage S Roadster include the option of lightweight forged alloy ten-spoke wheels.
The new Roadster retains the same compact proportions of its predecessor while features such as the pronounced bonnet louvres, optional bold graphics (painted carbon front grille, front grille lipstick and tailgate panel) as well as the exterior carbon pack and flared wheel arches underscore its sporting abilities.
Article Last Updated: July 15, 2014.
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