Today marks a historical day for Aston Martin as they officially unveil their V12 Zagato. Dr. Ulrich Bez, Chief Executive of Aston Martin, claims the Zagato "is destined to be one of the most highly coveted models in Aston Martin's 98-year history." That is certainly a strong claim to make, especially considering the fact that, in my opinion, nearly every Aston Martin is already coveted.
The Zagato isn't your ordinary Aston Martin though, in the sense that it isn't just a spiced up Vanquish or a face-lifted DB9. The V12 Zagato is based on the 1960 DB4GT Zagato that was essentially a lightened and improved version of the regular DB4GT; that was designed and made by Zagato in their Italian production facilities. The rare 1960's Zagato easily goes for $6.5 million in auctions today.
You're probably thinking, "So what? Aston Martin just redesigned a 50 year old car, what's the big deal?" - But it's not that simple. You see, Aston didn't just want to unveil a freshened up Zagato. What they revealed is a GT-ready super car, because before the V12 Zagato hit's Aston dealerships around the world, in fact, before this article was even written, two race-ready V12 Zagato concept cars have already competed in the 24 hours of Nurburgring Nordschleife. It's obvious Aston is not messing around with the new V12 Zagato. They've not only refreshed a historically rare and beautiful vehicle, they've also unleashed a beast that is to be reckoned with.
The new V12 Zagato, designed and built by the same Italians, is primarily based on the Vantage platform, featuring a "unique blend of power, beauty, soul, refinement, and dynamic agility." It sits on a bonded aluminum chassis that harnesses a 6.0-liter V12 naturally aspirated engine, producing 510 horsepower and 570 ft-lb of torque. That power is put to the road through a six speed manual gearbox that will get you from 0 to 60 mph in 4.2 seconds.
As always, Aston does not fail to impress with the design of the V12 Zagato either; with hand crafted carbon fiber and aluminum panels, only 150 of these cars will ever be made. The extensive labor time required for shaping each panel by hand will limit the total production of this car. The V12 Zagato takes a few design cues from the original DB4GT, but mostly just intimidates with the usual Aston Martin finesse of perfectly balanced performance with design.
With such impressive performance figures and stunning design cues, Dr. Ulrich Bez may be right about the Zagato being the most coveted Aston Martin to date, but that may also be due to the fact that few people will be able to afford, let alone, even find one of the 150 Zagatos that are being planned to sell for $550,000.
