How will the 2018 Aston Martin Vantage change the recipe for the better? According to senior company executives cited by Auto Express, the automaker’s latest aluminum vehicle architecture is the party piece of the new kid on the block. When asked about the 2018 Vantage’s competitive advantage, Matt Becker dropped a bit of a bombshell.
According to the man who is currently in charge of vehicle dynamics at Aston Martin, the all-new Vantage will be the best-handling Aston Martin to date. Becker used to be a chassis expert at Lotus, an automaker synonymous with great handling. Believed to be longer than the Porsche 911 and longer than the outgoing Vantage, Aston Martin is testing its entry-level model on the Nurburgring to ensure handling is superb.
Another thing the 2018 Vantage will have going for it is the availability of a manual transmission. Andy Palmer, the CEO of the British company, let it slip that Aston Martin won’t abandon the good old stick shift in the foreseeable future. And in the 2018 Vantage, a manual surely makes sense.
On the oily bits front, customers will be able to choose between two engines: the AMG-developed M178 DE 40 AL that produces as many as 585 PS in the Mercedes-AMG GT R, as well as the 5.2-liter twin-turbo V12 that debuted in the DB11. Aston Martin is expected to present the all-new Vantage late in 2017, after which the family will be completed by the Volante model.
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