No more Russian dolls.” It may sound like the New Year’s resolution of a certain frisky president, but it’s actually the new design watchword of Aston Martin, and of the second-generation Vantage that we’re driving in the Portuguese playground known as the Algarve region. No company, not even Ferrari, has enjoyed such a critical consensus—from buyers and auto scribes to broke teenagers—for the unimpeachable beauty of its cars. Yet from chief executive Andy Palmer to chief creative officer Marek Reichmann, the company knew it was time to shatter the mold. That Russian-doll template has pressed every recent Aston—the largest Rapide sedan, midsize Vanquish, and two-seat Vantage—into the admittedly glorious image of the DB7 and subsequent DB9 (designed by Ian Callum before he departed for Jaguar).
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