Aston Martin V12 Zagato: Italian Elegance Meets British Brute Force

Some companies really know how to celebrate. Take AstonMartin and Zagato, for example. The iconic British sports car maker and the legendary Italian coachbuilder will mark the 50th anniversary of their first collaboration with a brand new study.

To honor their first joint project, the 1961 DB4GT Zagato, the two companies developed the Aston Martin V12 Zagato, a race car study that will be unveiled on May 21 at the Villa D'Este Concorsod'Eleganza in Italy, where it will compete against the Ferrari Superamerica 45. But this elegant and dramatic coupe was not built for classy Concours d'Elegance events alone, as it will actually race at the Nurburgring 24 Hour event on June 25-26.

The car's design draws inspiration from older classics such as the DB4GT Zagato, V8 Vantage Zagato and DB7 Zagato. Based on the high-performance V12 Vantage, the V12 Zagato features an impressively sculpted bodywork, combining Italian elegance with British force.

"The V12 Zagato is an elegant yet brutal design which reflects the great balance between race performance and pure Aston Martin style,” said Aston Martin director of design Marek Reichmann. “The original DB4GT Zagato was a true icon, powerful and graceful; the new design is a true representation of the spirit of DB4GT Zagato," he added.

Work on the project started in 2010, with the aluminum body being hand-crafted, in true coachbuilder's style. Each front wing alone contains seven separate pieces of aluminum, combined and hand-finished to obtain one flowing form. Elements like the traditional Zagato double bubble inclined roof, the dramatic air scoops in the front fenders, the recessed taillights and the sweptback rear end give the V12 Zagato an aggressive yet very distinctive look.

The endurance race car features a 6.0-liter V12 engine that produces 517 horsepower and 570 Nm (420 lb-ft) of torque, just like the V12 Vantage it's based on. However, weight reduction measures make it faster than the roadgoing version. It should sprint from 0 to 100 km/h (96 mph) in under 4 seconds. Aston Martin will field two cars at the Nurburgring 24 hour race but the really good news is the company will build a limited edition version for the road as well.

“Matching the technology of the age with the traditional skills vital to deliver such a bespoke and exclusive sports car will lead to a strictly limited run of road going V12 Zagatos,” said Ulrich Bez, Aston Martin CEO.

By Dan Mihalascu

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Aston Martin and Zagato Reunite, will Show New Car at Villa D’Este Concours

This year, the iconic Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato celebrates its 50th anniversary, and to mark the event, the British automaker and the famous Italian design house have joined forces once again to create a new project that could very well head to production. The new collaboration between Aston Martin and Zagato will be revealed in concept form at the forthcoming Villa D’Este Concours on May 21 to gauge initial customer reaction with a view to a production model following as early as 2012.

For the time being, and aside from the teaser rendering, we don’t get any additional information on the new Aston Martin Zagato but word has it that it could be based on the mechanical hardware and platform of the current V8 Vantage.

Aston Martin boss, Dr. Ulrich Bez, said: “Now is the right time for a new Aston Martin Zagato and in combining our design intelligence I think we can create something fitting of the iconic DB4GT Zagato that has gone before and since established itself as one of the most famous Aston Martins of all time.”

The Italian design house penned its first car for Aston Martin in 1961 with the presentation of the now famous DB4GT Zagato, which was a restyled and lighter version of the standard production car. Only 19 examples were ever built.

The two companies joined forces again 25 years later in 1986 with the limited run V8 Vantage Zagato and then the V8 Zagato Volante. The former of the two cars, based on the production V8 Vantage, was able to complete the 0-60mph (96km/h) sprint in 4.8 seconds and had a top speed of 186mph (300km/h).

Their most recent collaboration took place at the Paris Motor Show in 2002 with the introduction of the DB7 Zagato of which 99 examples were built for sale and one was kept for Aston Martin.

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