Aston Martin Reveals Stunning New Flagship, the 211-MPH V12 DBS Superleggera

It’s as fast as it looks.

Dan Carney

Jun 26, 2018

This is what a thoroughbred grand touring car should look like—irresistibly sexy and inescapably muscular with the finishing school air that sets it apart from crass muscle cars.

The Aston Martin DBS Superleggera also possesses clean contemporary lines that echo Aston’s design heritage without being constrained by it.

“DBS Superleggera not only marks the return of a great Aston Martin name, but signals our return to the very pinnacle of the Super GT sector,” remarked Aston Martin president and CEO Andy Palmer.

“Handsome beyond measure, its lightweight carbon composite and aluminum body is sculpted into a shape with tremendous presence and charisma,” he said. “Immaculately styled, obsessively engineered and outrageously potent, the new DBS Superleggera is every inch the Aston Martin flagship”.

The Superleggera, which marks a revival of Aston’s use of the name of its onetime Italian coachbuilder, replaces the Vanquish S in the company’s lineup.

The DBS Superleggera’s 715-horsepower twin-turbo 5.2-liter V12 blasts this comfortable cruiser to 60 mph in less than 3.4 seconds and to 100 mph in just 6.4 seconds, before topping out at 211 mph.

The DBS is built on the same aluminum chassis as the DB11 that made such an impression on us when it debuted, and the new flagship borrows some aerodynamic tricks from its predecessor, such as the Aeroblade on the rear deck which uses a jet of air to aid the physical spoiler to control airflow off the car’s tail.

Aston will let the V12 sing, using a new exhaust system with active valves and quad tail pipes to ensure DBS Superleggera has a “commanding and powerful sound character.” the company assures us.

Don’t worry that all this sound and fury signals a brutish machine. Rather, Aston employs an appropriately smooth ZF eight-speed automatic transmission mounted at the rear of the DBS for better weight balance.