2025 Aston Martin Vanquish PHEV: Everything We Know So Far

If Aston Martin's revival of the Vanquish hybrid isn't cancelled, the upcoming coupe will be a thrilling work of art.

The fate of the Aston Martin Vanquish is currently uncertain. The British supercar manufacturer had earlier announced that it would be reintroducing the Vanquish as a plug-in hybrid in 2025. The tantalizing concept art shows a car that is tailor-made for the most discerning purists. However, some sources claim that the Vanquish has since been canceled. But the plans (if indeed shelved) may be resurrected in time for 2025. Before the cancelation (which many people hope is a temporary pause) Aston Martin released photographs of the car and a handful of tantalizing promises like "bespoke V-6 engine" and "bespoke bonded aluminum chassis."

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Concept art for the 2025 Vanquish shows a car painted in a beautiful metallic turquoise that, in the best way possible, looks like it was borrowed the 1990s. It is exciting to see bright colors return to cars after a decade of relentless grays (with the occasional red, orange, or yellow if one is daring).

On the front of the car, Aston Martin has bucked the trend of making supercars with pouty faces. The headlight and grille design looks inspired by the classic roadsters of the 1960s instead of the relentless parade of angry-looking supercars that spend their time being ferried on trailers instead of touching the pavement. While the Vanquish has a more intimidating stance than the charming “bubble coupes” of the past, it eschews the aesthetic ferocity that has been so popular for the last decade or two.

The frame is to be made of aluminum instead of the currently-trendy carbon fiber. On its own website, Aston Martin calls it a “bespoke bonded aluminum chassis.” (For those who didn’t already know, “bonded aluminum” simply means that the aluminum is glued together rather than welded or riveted.)

The choice to make the frame out of aluminum may be more related to marketing than performance (as both aluminum and carbon fiber are suited for car frames). It is possible that carbon fiber is becoming out-of-date. While the material once had unassailable cachet, several years of cheap stick-on carbon fiber dashboard covers and other aftermarket frivolities may have finally been its undoing.

Intriguingly, it appears the entire interior of the vehicle rides between the wheels and not over them. In this respect, the Vanquish concept is inadvertently going back to the early days of automobiles, when all four wheels jutted out from the sides of the car instead of sitting underneath it. But Aston Martin has softened the protruding fenders with horizontal fin-like protrusions that stretch across the doors and span the gap between the front and rear wheels. (Perhaps the makers of supercars remain a bit traumatized by the Plymouth Prowler, which was the last time a mass-production car unapologetically let its wheels hang off the side of the car.) However, the narrow interior space is obvious when viewing the car from the front. The windshield only goes between the inner walls of the wheel wells rather than spanning the width of the car. Indeed, the Vanquish's looks like a sort of black-painted bubble rising out of the center of the car.

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Aside from the perhaps-too-exuberant color choice, the body design will certainly get the “enthusiast stamp of approval.” It is, naturally, a coupe. The brake calipers are painted bright red, as is de rigueur for any car that has exactly two seats and a lot of horsepower. The barely-there ride height provides excellent handling and an "engaging roadfeel." The belt line is high enough to reduce the side and rear windows to sporty slits. The wheels are larger than the best pizzas. As is proper with this type of vehicle, the tires look like black rubber bands stretched over them.

Indeed, the large wheel size may be why the wheel wells are outside the passenger cabin instead of below it. The roof has a sportily steep slope toward the car's rear. The exhaust pipes emerge through cutouts in the taillights instead of hanging under the car. In sum, any true connoisseur would be proud to hoist a Vanquish onto a bespoke trailer.

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The Vanquish, if it is still in development, will be a plug-in hybrid. Aston Martin has not released any specifications, but the car said to have a twin-turbo V6 engine designed in-house. (However, some sources state that the engine has not been designed yet.)

But the big buzz surrounding the Vanquish hasn’t been about the engine itself, or the obligatory high horsepower the hybrid powertrain will produce. (Some speculate that it will likely be over 700 horses.) Instead, everyone’s excitement has been about the engine’s placement in the chassis. The Vanquish is slated to be a mid-engine vehicle. This may account for the way the windshield and the hood almost form a continuous slope from the roof to the bumper. Aston Martin has apparently sought to camouflage this “snub-nose” appearance with a two-tone paint job, which does an unexpectedly good job at visually separating the greenhouse of the car from the rest of the body.

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Aston Martin has not released any photos or renderings of the Vanquish’s interior. However, one can be certain that all the luxury favorites will be on tap. Prospective buyers will likely be able to choose between various exotic leathers and a fabric warehouse worth of Alcantara. The stereo will likely be good enough to merit being called a “sound system.” With regard to interior instrumentation, Aston Martin has currently been favoring buttons and knobs. Therefore, the Vanquish will probably not have a large touchscreen on an otherwise bare center stack.

When it comes to color options, Aston Martin seems to prefer offering a dark and muted palette in most of its models. The color options listed on its website look like what one might find when shopping for men’s dress shoes. The concept car may be a bright turquoise, but apparently, Aston Martin has no intention of continuing that sort of colorful exuberance to the Vanquish’s interior.

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Whether the Vanquish is truly canceled remains to be seen. Some sources say that the Vanquish has been vanquished by the fickle tides of the stock market. However, in an industry ruled by extravagance, no supercar is truly terminated until the design is obsolete. Aston Martin’s website still lists the Vanquish as a forthcoming model.

Indeed, the company is claiming that the Vanquish will be a production model instead of a one-off. An MSRP has not been officially released, but speculation puts the price at a relatively low $300,000— which further confirms that this is meant to be in mass production instead of a custom order for one lucky person to ensconce in a climate-controlled garage.

Writer and occasional reluctant perpetrator of engine swaps, James O'Neil is a malaise era enthusiast and also fascinated by the many ways the auto industry has since recovered from those dark days. Cars of choice: Toyota Corolla (any year) or 1982 Chevrolet Caprice.