2018 Aston Martin Vanquish S Volante Revealed

The Aston Martin Vanquish is on its way out – the current generation of the company's 'Super GT' is in its fifth year of production. The Vanquish S coupe, launched in November 2016, was the swansong to celebrate one of the few cars in the world still powered by a naturally-aspirated V12 motor. New generation Aston Martins will be powered by the company's new twin-turbocharged V12 engine, which debuted on the DB11.

The Vanquish S Volante seems like the perfect visual representation of that swansong. 

The Aston Martin Vanquish S Volante is not just the coupe with its roof chopped off, oh no. The engine has been given a boost in performance too.

Changes on the outside mimic the Vanquish S, including a carbon fibre front splitter, carbon fibre side sills, carbon fibre rear diffuser, a boot integrated spoiler and twin dual-exhaust tips. With the fabric roof down (which folds in 14 seconds at speeds of up to 48kmph), the cowl humps behind the rear passenger headrests are also noticeable. 

The Vanquish S Volante is a luxurious GT. The seats are fitted with quilted-leather covers, the headrests have embroidery on them and the dashboard features carbon fibre inserts. Aston Martin does offer a whole range of customisation options to help customers make their Vanquish S Volante unique.

The Vanquish S Volante features a chassis and bodywork which extensively use carbon fibre and aluminium to keep the weight down. The coupe weighed in at 1,739kg. So it is safe to assume that the Volante will weigh more. By how much? We don't know as yet.

To counteract that weight gain, Aston Martin has bumped up the power on the Vanquish S Volante. The 5.9-litre, naturally-aspirated V12 now develops 604PS of maximum power at 7,000rpm – which is up by 27PS. Peak torque developed is the same as the coupe: 630Nm at 5,500rpm.

Power is sent to the rear wheels through an eight-speed ZF transmission – which has also been tweaked for the Volante. The Vanquish S Volante should be able to match or better the performance times of the coupe; the coupe does 0-100kmph in 3.5 seconds and has a top speed of 323kmph.

The Aston Martin Vanquish S Volante will cost upwards of Rs 2 crore, taxes not included - the standard Vanquish costs about Rs 4 Crore, ex-showroom. It will be launched in most international markets by April 2017. The company has not announced if and when the car will be launched in India.