There are obvious elements taken from the DB12, but with a lower centre console and a panoramic glass roof (a first for a V12 Aston – a carbon roof is optional), the Vanquish has a more open and airy feel from the driver’s seat. Like all the most special cars, the architecture is unconventional in some ways – the dashboard is short and slopes sharply down from the scuttle, the windscreen has an aggressive angle of attack, and you’re positioned a long, long way from the nose. Judging where it stops will be guesswork, we imagine.
The HMI is Aston’s own system that first appeared on the DB12, developed in-house and featuring 4G connectivity, wireless Apple CarPlay and remote smartphone connectivity via an Aston Martin app. The interface consists of a 10.25-inch digital dial pack behind the steering wheel and a dash-mounted touchscreen of the same size, but there’s still an array of physical switchgear for quick access to general controls. ‘It was very important for us to allow you to interact with physical buttons,’ says Nurnberger. ‘You can get to the temperature, volume and seat controls very quickly. There isn’t a lag that will distract you from the road.’
Given this emphasis on analogue elements as well as digital, we wondered whether Aston had considered following Bugatti and giving the Vanquish an intricate physical dial pack rather than a screen. ‘We did consider it,’ admits Nurnberger, ‘but we decided that for this car the digital solution offered what we wanted. It’s something interesting we’re looking at for the next generation. Three or four years ago there was a relentless need for more screens in cars, but I think a lot of people have now discovered that the grass wasn’t necessarily greener in this respect.’
Order books for the Vanquish are now open, with the first examples arriving in customer’s hands in the last quarter of this year. At £333,000 it is a chunk more expensive than the DBS was near the end of its life (and £19k more than the 770 Ultimate), but you could argue that none of its predecessors since the original Vanquish have been created with this level of freedom. In its design, specification and engineering detail, it feels like the Ferrari 12Cilindri rival Aston Martin wants it to be. We’ll soon find out whether the driving experience backs that up.