Aston Martin ‘V600’ badge revived for Vantage

Inspired by the Vantage V600 of the late-‘90s, Aston Martin is set to build a limited run of 2018 Aston Martin V12 Vantage V600s using the underpinnings of the recently-departed VH Vantage.

Only 14 will be built by Aston Martin’s Q personalisation service, with 7 in coupe and 7 in roadster guise, and all will feature naturally aspirated 6.0-litre V12 power units producing 441kW.

Equally exciting is that those engines will be mated to 7-speed manual gearboxes, even though the original dual-supercharged V8 of 1998 was available with a 4-speed auto.

Also keeping it in tune with the original is the power output of 600ps (metric horses), even though the original produced 600hp (447kW).

Due to the name of the special Vantage, the car has been dubbed by Aston Martin ‘the Triple V’ (V12, Vantage, V600).

A set of 3-stage adaptive dampers, rear independent wishbone suspension, and a full carbon fibre exterior do, however, depart somewhat from the original V600.

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The limited edition car was actually born of a customer commission, which requested “a strictly limited run of 14 new Aston Martin V12 Vantage V600s.”

We shudder to think how much money you need to have to request that of a company like Aston Martin.

Aston design boss Marek Reichman says the 14 vehicles will represent another justification for the existence of the ‘Q’ division.

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“This is precisely why we created our ‘Q by Aston Martin Commission’ service,” he says.

“Our customers can create truly bespoke sports cars by personally collaborating with myself and Aston Martin’s design team.

“The V600 name remains a classic in Aston Martin’s heritage and I’m proud to see it adorn the V12 Vantage V600 once again”.

Deliveries for the 2018 Aston Martin V12 Vantage V600 are expected for Q3 this year.