The New Aston Martin Vanquish Volante Is the World’s Fastest Front-Engine Convertible

Aston Martin‘s third-generation Vanquish debuted last year to respectful reviews. The convertible version, called the Vanquish Volante and revealed this week, is on track for perhaps more than that.

For starters, the Vanquish Volante, Aston says, is the fastest and most powerful front-engine convertible in the world with a top speed of 214 mph and a V-12 making 823 horsepower. Aston says the Vanquish Volante is also the “most powerful open-top series production Aston Martin to date,” and that the car is the “very pinnacle of ultra-luxury high performance.”

The new Vanquish Volante occupies a pretty specific niche, in other words: an ultra-luxury car that aspires to compete with Rolls-Royce and Bentley and a motor that wants to compete with Lamborghini and Ferrari. Performance has always been an emphasis for Aston Martin and, equally, luxury, too. With the new Vanquish Volante, Aston wants to double down on both. The new Vanquish Volante represents exclusivity, too, with fewer than 1,000 Vanquishes planned for production annually, including the Volante convertible versions.

Both the coupe and the convertible share that V-12 engine, which can get to 62 mph in 3.3 seconds in the coupe and 3.4 seconds in the convertible Volante, probably because the Volante is 209 pounds heavier than the coupe. The Vanquish Volante can put its roof down in 14 seconds and close it in 16 seconds at speeds of up to 31 mph. This can be done with the key fob as well. Aston also claims that the thermal insulation with the roof closed is similar to that with the Vanquish coupe.

On the inside, Aston didn’t change much compared to the Vanquish coupe, and, indeed, with the new Vanquish Volante Aston wants to emphasize everything else: the big power, but also its elegant exterior proportions.

Aston did not release a price for the new Vanquish Volante, but the coupe version starts at $432,700, so you can expect the Vanquish Volante to be around half a million dollars. Deliveries of the new Vanquish Volante are expected to begin in the third quarter of this year.

Click here for more photos of the new Aston Martin Vanquish Volante.