21 December 2017, Gaydon: The festive season provides everyone with an opportunity to reflect on the previous 12 months, and it has been another glorious year for Aston Martin.
The British luxury carmaker launched the second car from its Second Century plan: the new Aston Martin Vantage, in November. Vantage is Aston Martin’s best-selling model and the new car is poised to continue the illustrious bloodline when it goes into production in early 2018.
The DB11 story continues as the family grows to include V8-powered and Volante versions. Such has been the success of this car, Aston Martin returned to profit earlier this year. This has been helped with the continued success of Aston Martin’s special editions – with the Vanquish Zagato Speedster and Shooting Brake joining the Coupe and Volante to complete the quartet – all of which are sold out.
The past met the present earlier this month when Aston Martin Works re-started production in Newport Pagnell after a 10-year absence, producing a special continuation run of 25 of the track-only DB4 G.T., an incredible car that was first launched in 1959.
The new AMR performance brand was launched in 2017, to amplify and accentuate the sporting prowess of Aston Martin’s road cars, influenced by the on-track learnings of Aston Martin Racing. Rapide AMR and Vantage AMR Pro concepts are already confirmed for production.
It has been another extraordinary year on track for the Aston Martin Vantage highlighted by an incredible class victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the final year of Pro class competition for the Vantage GTE. A new Vantage GTE will take to the track in 2018.
A new, strengthened Innovation Partnership with Red Bull Racing was forged in 2017 that will bring great technological benefits to both parties and see Aston Martin as title partner to the 2018 Aston Martin Red Bull Racing F1 Team. The first product to come from this partnership, the Aston Martin Valkyrie, is on schedule to run in 2018.
Work continues apace at St Athan, where Aston Martin is on schedule to start production of the company’s new SUV, the Aston Martin DBX, in 2019.
Aston Martin President and CEO, Dr Andy Palmer said: “It has been another amazing year for Aston Martin. I’m incredibly proud of the whole Aston Martin team, our success in 2017 is testament to the skill and dedication of all employees of Aston Martin who work tirelessly to combine exceptional design with the latest technology. As we head into the holiday season, I want to thank everyone for their support during 2017 and we look forward to 2018 and the exciting times ahead!”
