‘You had to explain the DBS; with this, you don’t’
JG: ‘You say there’s quite a big nod to the DBX here, with some DNA links between the two. Was going all-wheel drive o the table? |t could give you more trusty traction with this amount of power…’
AL: ‘What people expect from us are super-clean and crisp dynamics, and there was definitely a sense in the team that there was a massive leap to be made in dynamic talent in the chassis without all-wheel drive. Leaving the purity of the front end to the steering and nothing else gives us a clear position in the market against cars this price.’
JG: ‘Saves weight, too…’
AL: ‘It does, and weight is a huge discussion right now. The new BMW M5 is a pin-up for that weight topic right now, but it’s the same with the new Bentley Continental GT Speed – both are around 2.5 tonnes.
‘This is a different beast to Valhalla coming up, for example, which will have allwheel drive with an e-motor on the front. That will have some debut technologies on it.’
JG: ‘But this is a firmly old-school, big-power, V12, rear-drive sort of car. |sn’t that a bit out of place in a downsizing, electrifying world?’
AL: ‘It’s a bit of an eye browraiser right now, for sure. There’s still an audience for it. V12s used to be a lot more common; you’d find them in Mercedes S-Class and BMW 7-series saloons. But now, they’re special. With Vanquish, there are now two interpretations of the V12 GT car on the market but |’d say they’re very different.’
JG: ‘And great to see the Vanquish name return.’
AL: ‘I just think it’s one of the best names in the business, and you know where you stand with it. With DBS it was basically a DB11… S. There’s no sub-explanation here.’