Vantage: an Aston to the core

A common platform strategy is a vital element of the company's design and manufacturing flexibility.

This year, Aston Martin is scheduled to build close to 5000 cars. In the vast Ford empire, that figure may be almost infinitesimal, but for the British specialist sports car company it is a highly significant achievement. With its new V8 Vantage, now ramping up to reach an annual figure of almost 3000 units and being built alongside the established DB9 (about 2000 units) and exotic Vanquish (350 units), Aston is achieving a combination of production and claimed quality levels that would have been unthinkable even three years ago.

A major problem for any maker of prestige cars (even with the might of an international conglomerate behind it acting as a merchant banker) is balancing its books in terms of design, development, and, particularly, manufacturing costs. With such low annual volume and the need to have three models to establish a sensible business case, it was essential for Aston Martin to achieve construction and technological commonality between them without degradation of actual or perceived quality and image.