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A Final Hurrah for Aston Martin Vanquish with Ultimate Edition



Aston Martin's success in the new millennium has a lot to do with the productsthat it's been unveiling. The DB9 is considered by many to be the ultimate British grand tourer, bearing the best in style, substance, luxury and speed. Sans its roof, the DB9 Volante is even more beautiful, allowing its occupants direct contact with the sunlight, air and sky. Then there's the V8 Vantage, the so-called "baby" Aston. It might only have a 4.3-liter engine under its hood, but it showed that Aston has its sights on Porsche and Maserati. But as enticing as these models are, the car that really got the ball rolling for Aston in this new era was the Vanquish, the ultimate British sports
What a way to celebrate an image-changing car; Vanquish Ultimate Edition. (Photo: Aston Martin)
car.

However stunning the Vanquish may be, it's certainly getting on in years. The car, which debuted in 2001, is now six years old, and has alreadyreceived a mid-life update to include the higher performance “S” model. Top brass have decided to retire the supercar while it's still in its prime, and will be doing so with a limited edition package called the Ultimate Edition. Only 40 Ultimate Edition cars will be built, and they
Any color you like it, so long as it's Ultimate Black. (Photo: Aston Martin)
pack a couple of unique features to distinguish them from other Vanquishes.

Firstly, the car will be offered in limited edition "Ultimate Black", a color only available with this very car. In addition, the interior is dressed up with semi-aniline leather and coarse stitching, a leatherheadliner, and black chrome trim to jazz things up. But the really special change is the addition of a regular six-speed manual transmission with a proper clutch pedal, which is offered in place of the car's current Auto Shift Manual sequential-manual gearbox. Being Aston’s first sequential-manual, the Vanquish suffered in early years from jerky activation. Aston says that there's
Six-speed manual can be retrofitted to previous Vanquishes. (Photo: Aston Martin)
no loss in performance between the paddle-shift box and the regular manual, which should be pleasing to owners since this is the most powerful vehicle that Aston Martin has ever made. Top speed is in excess of 200 mph! Another thing that should make potential buyers happy is that the Ultimate Edition won't cost anything more than the current vehicle.

Owners of the regular Vanquish, as well as the newer Vanquish S, will be able to get a conversion kit that allows the car to be shifted by hand and by foot. It's a retrofit, though and not a cheap one. Aston charges £13,250 ($25,800) for the kit, which is installed by Aston Martin’s world renowned Works Service department. For the discerning buyer who values the do-it-yourself action of palming a true gear stick over a pair of sequentially operated paddles, it'll be well worth the money.
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