The Virage, to be officially launched at the Geneva Motor show this week, is touted by its maker as a "perfect balance of opposites" and is expected to carry an imperfect $400,000-plus price tag.
The 10th Aston Martin model is now on sale - with a three month delivery time - as Coupe or Volante convertible styles. Though based on the DBS's VH architecture - with a bonded aluminium chassis, magnesium and composite body panels - the shape is new.
Externally, the Virage sits lower and wider than the DBS and wears a new aluminium grille inspired by the One-77 with five horizontal vanes chamfered to create an aerofoil profile.
The front fenders carry Aston Martin's iconic side strake design with six LEDs to form the side indicator repeater lights. Each Virage will have 70 man hours of craftsmanship lavished on the interior alone and includes seven hides of Bridge of Weir leather.
It gets the familiar 365kW/570Nm 6-litre V12 and standard six-speed automatic rear-placed transmission transaxle. Aston claims a 0-100km/h sprint of 4.5 seconds and exhaustion at 298km/h.
The suspension is double wishbone with standard Adaptive Damping System (ADS) with Sport mode, Pirelli P Zeros on 20-inch alloys and - surprise - carbon-ceramic disc brakes all around with six-piston calipers up front and four-pot units at the back.
The Virage gets a new ADS with five stiffness settings within normal mode, and a further five stiffer settings within sport mode. Further, a "Sport" button selects a sharper throttle response, faster gear changes and will hold the gears without upshifting on the rev limiter.
Aston Martin says more than 200 man hours will be spent handcrafting the Virage at the company's global headquarters in England.
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