Aston Martin Developing the Vanquish S?

The only rumor about a new Aston Martin is regarding the replacement for the V8 Vantage, which has reportedly been shown to Mercedes already and will receive an AMG engine, probably the twin-turbo V8.

But this prototype is clearly no a twin-turbo V8, it's the regular V12, which leads us to believe an updated Vanquish is being engineered. With a partial roll cage inside the cabin, the Aston is not taking track testing very lightly here. So the only possible scenario we can think of is that this is a mule for the Vanquish S.

And now for a bit of Aston Martin V12 Vanquish history to make sense of it all:

The first Vanquish was designed by Ian Callum came out in 2001.It stayed in production until 2005, by which time the Vanquish S which was revealed the previous year took over. Making its debut at the 2004 Paris Motor Show, the S remained a 6-liter car, but power jumped up from 450 to 520 hp. It also received slightly updated exterior. Courtesy of the Sports Dynamic Pack, which incorporated sportier suspension, steering, and brakes, handling was also improved.

The second generation Vanquish has actually been around since 2012, so a mid-life update in 2015 is possible. Even though the car was well received at first, it has received a lot of criticism for not being as dynamically competent as some of the other supercars in its price bracket.

A standard V12 Vanquish sold right now packs the AM11 version of the V12 engine that produces 573 PS at 6,750 rpm and torque of 620 Nm (457 lb-ft) of torque. Needless to say, V12 Ferraris and Lamborghinis make much more than that and even though the Vanquish is not designed to be a supercar, more power can't hurt.

Rapide into Rapide S, V12 Vantage into V12 Vantage S – there's a new S model from Aston about every two years, as far as we can figure.

Video by TouriClips