Aston Martin calls their bespoke custom workshop, appropriately, Q Branch, in reference to the car company’s alliance with the world of James Bond. Q Branch oversees the creation of customer’s car to exacting specifications, but the operation found time to produce its own halo vehicle to show what it can really do when the stops are pulled out.
The new V12 Speedster combines the brand’s signature luxury edge and folds in a nod to Aston’s illustrious racing history, and a heavy dose of next-generation aeronautical lines to deliver a super car in alignment with a fighter jet. In fact, the sample car just unveiled is called the F/A-18 livery, referring to the fighter jet, and just oozes a sleek military-grade vibe with a gorgeous retro-flecked interpretation of a “car of the future.”
A Skyfall Silver exterior, replete with new scoops, venting and lines that hint at an elevated design language for the brand, rolls into a menacing, dark, technological two-seat cabin/cockpit with carbon fiber details and bold red accents. Diver and passenger are separated by an aerodynamic center piece that forms around two oval front “pods” leading into the cabin, while two see-through rear pods complete the futuristic design.
“No roof or screen, a big engine, low, with broad shoulders and exaggerated and emotional styling with twin humps and the spine separating the driver and passenger. The light, low, rear end contrasts with the bold, enlarged grille, unique headlights and bonnet nostril at the front. The bonnet nostril we haven’t done in a very long time, but we’ve brought them back. It’s a neat trick visually to allow us to win some space for the V12. It creates this iconic looking vent,” commented Aston Martin Lagonda’s design director Miles Nurnberger on the car’s outstanding visual cues.
Of course, with a newly-designed 5-liter twin-turbo V12 power plant delivering 700hp for a take-off of 0-62mph in 3.5 seconds, you might actually think the V12 Speedster could decide to take wing. Orders are now being taken, but only 88 examples will be produced with deliveries starting early next year. From $908,000, astonmartin.com
