Spy Pics: Aston Martin V8 Vantage Revealed In Production Guise

Aston Martin has revealed its upcoming V8 Vantage sports car in a set of official 'spy' images ahead of its launch later this year.

While the new images of the Aston Martin V8 Vantage feature the usual layers of headache inducing camouflage, they reveal major details of what the new car will look like, when it arrives later this year with a twin-turbo V8 from Mercedes-AMG.

The new V8 Vantage seems to be inspired by the extremely sharp concept Aston Martin DB10 which was the steed for 007 himself in the last James Bond film — Spectre. The rear end looks similar to the current car thanks to the chopped rear end.

Underneath the bonnet of the new V8 Vantage, however, is something Aston Martin fans first saw in the new DB11 V8 — a twin-turbo German V8. The AMG sourced V8 will feature Aston's own ECU settings and is expected to produce a whole lot more power than the current 4.7-litre naturally aspirated V8's 430bhp.

The bump in power is expected to bring the V8 Vantage's 0–100kph time closer to 4 seconds compared to the current car's 4.8 second sprint time. The top speed is also expected to exceed 306kp (190mph) and a new set of Pirellis will put all that AMG-derived power to the road.

The Aston Martin V8 Vantage will be revealed in all its glory later this year with a V12 variant drawing power from the DB11's turbocharged powerplant expected to follow on later.

DriveSpark Thinks!

The new Aston Martin V8 will be the second car from Aston to feature AMG power. However, combine the AMG grunt with the DB10 inspired design and Bond himself may want to ditch the DBs for the Vantage when it arrives later this year.