Winston Goodfellow
04/01/2004
When the 460-hp Vanquish roared onto the scene in late 2001, it was the most expensive, powerful and sophisticated auto Aston Martin had ever built. Anticipation for the model was such that a two-year waiting list greeted its debut. “Aston really raised the bar with the Vanquish,” says Gordon McCall, a consultant with Christie’s Motor Cars department. “It represented a milestone for the company.” On the secondary market, the Vanquish commanded an $80,000 to $100,000 premium above the $235,000 list price, an unheard of amount at the time.
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| THE ASTON Martin Vanquish is assembled in Newport Pagnell, near London. |
Less tangible is the Vanquish’s star appeal, which spurred interest in the model. The vehicle appeared in the James Bond film Die Another Day and in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. Celebrity owners include the Prince of Wales and actor Nicholas Cage.
Interest has remained strong and the model remains nearly impossible to obtain. “Demand for the Vanquish has far outstripped supply,” says Simon Rod, Aston’s operations manager for North America. “One reason is that awareness of the Aston Martin [brand] in the U.S. has increased over the past couple of years. Even though the Vanquish factory is operating at capacity, just 150 cars a year have arrived here.”
Strategic
Overhaul
Fueled by the Vanquish’s success, Aston Martin has been quietly
transforming itself from a boutique builder of revered sports cars such as the
lean, chrome-detailed DB5 and the GT models appearing in the James Bond films,
to one with three models and a 5,000-car annual output. The DB9, the successor
to the wildly popular DB7 that jump-started Aston Martin’s flagging fortunes in
1993, will be introduced later this year. Meanwhile, Aston is
readying a more revved up 2005 Vanquish, with over 500 hp.
Aston Martin’s
transformation began in 1987, when Ford bought a controlling interest in it from
former Pace Petroleum CEO Victor Gauntlett. The dynamic businessman had been the
latest in a long line of car-loving, but money-losing, entrepreneurs who had
owned Aston and seen it in and out of bankruptcy court since its inception in
1914. Under Gauntlett, average annual production had languished at about 200
cars through much of the 1980s.
| “Here we are, almost three years after the Vanquish was introduced, and it still has sizzle.” — Gordon McCall |
Need for Speed
In 1997, Ford saw the need to expand production and introduce a faster model to truly compete with blue-chip sports car marques such as Ferrari. Aston’s then-CEO Bob Dover gave Callum a blank check to design the Vanquish. He used sophisticated elements, such as a chassis that featured a carbon-fiber passenger compartment and aluminum chassis sections to shed weight and enhance strength. It would serve as the basis for an all-new Aston chassis that would set the brand apart from its peers. For extra power, the designers gave it a twin overhead cam engine that produced enough power to propel the rear-wheel drive vehicle along at up to 195 mph.
The plush
interior was a combination of hand-stitched luxurious Connelly leather and
Alcantara suede, though many of the minor dashboard controls, such as turn
signals and switches, were lifted almost unchanged from other Ford models.
However, the company did offer Vanquish owners a range of customization options,
from paint to leather to the material on the dashboard.
Performance Investment
The combination of form and function has been a
financial boon for buyers. “There is no question that the Vanquish is very
strong in holding its value,” says Stuart Carpenter of Copley Motorcars, a firm
that specializes in buying and selling high-end autos. The price of a used
Vanquish hovers around $200,000 on the retail market. “That’s the price for a
2002 Vanquish with around 5,000 miles on it,” says Carpenter. However, such a
beast is a rare find. “You just don’t see them on the secondary market, since
most of the owners are keeping them.” Indeed, Aston plans to keep production of
the Vanquish to a minimum in order to support valuations. The volume shipped
will be even lower in the 2004 model year; only 98 will arrive on U.S.
shores.
The Vanquish also holds its value better than other high-performance
autos. Even the Lamborghini Murcielago, a $280,000 mid-engine supercar that
debuted at the same time as the Vanquish, has depreciated more steeply. “The
Murcielago never saw the pop in price the Vanquish experienced,” says Al
Burtoni, a California-based dealer who has been selling Lamborghinis since 1968.
“Even when it first came out, prices hovered around the sticker. Today, a good
2002 Murcielago sells for around $225,000 to $230,000.”
Ferrari’s 550
Maranello and its new 575M model offer a telling comparison. Like the Vanquish,
the Ferrari’s engine is mounted up front, it is driver friendly, and it tops out
around 200 mph. A Ferrari dealer, who preferred not to be named, says a 2000 550
Maranello sells for around $150,000, and a 2001 for approximately $155,000 to
$160,000.
Shifting Downmarket
The Vanquish will continue to be built in
Aston’s factory about an hour outside London, in the sleepy village of Newport
Pagnell, until 2008. At that point, the company will move Vanquish production to
its state-of-the-art facility in Gaydon, where it is building its new $160,000
DB9 coupe. Gaydon will produce 5,000 Astons annually when the company begins
producing its new $100,000 AMV8 Vantage there next year.
Though Vanquish
collectors are a bit perplexed, dealers such as Massachusetts-based Stephen
Serio say they are pleased with the downmarket move. “The AMV8 Vantage broadens
the marque’s appeal,” he says. “In many ways, the car reminds me of Giorgio
Armani 20 years ago, before the movie American Gigolo. No one really knew the
Armani name then, and then it was everywhere.”
Christie’s McCall does not believe the lower-priced AMV8 Vantage will harm the Vanquish’s cache either. “There is such a large difference in price points,” he says, “and the new model will bring more people into the Aston Martin family. A percentage of those buyers will undoubtedly become collectors, and that will [favorably] impact the marketplace for collectible Astons.”
Certain historic Aston Martins have been truly great investments, and their cache is reflected in their current market values. The DB5 from the mid-1960s has seen its value spike in the past 12 months from $140,000 to $200,000. (It originally cost $13,000.) The DB4 Zagato from the early 1960s, which cost $12,000 new, is extremely rare (only 19 were made), and demand for this model has pushed its resale value up to $2.7 million. Dearest of all is the DBR1, which powered Aston Martin to its LeMans victory in 1959. Since only five were made, these vehicles trade like pieces of fine art in private transactions. They can fetch from $3 million to $5 million.
Other
Astons languish. The V-8 coupes from the 1970s and 1980s are stuck in the
$35,000 to $60,000 range. And though the recently discontinued DB7 and DB7
Vantage were brisk sellers, their high production numbers weigh on resale
values. They are now depreciating like any normal used car.
Long term,
Christie’s McCall is bullish. “The litmus test for any car is the ‘wow’ factor,”
he points out. “Here we are, almost three years after the Vanquish was
introduced, and it still has sizzle. When something remains cool for that
long, future value is affected.”
Additional Information
Aston Martin's DB9