Aston Martin Virage

The Aston Martin Virage is an automobile that the British luxury maker Aston Martin produced as the replacement for its V8 models, introduced at the Birmingham Motor Show in 1988. It was joined by the high-performance Vantage in 1993, after which the base model was renamed the V8 Coupé in 1996. The V8-powered car was intended as the company's flagship, with the six-cylinder DB7 of 1994 positioned below it as an entry-level model; even when the DB7 became available with a V12 and claimed a performance advantage, the Virage remained the exclusive, expensive and hand-built flagship of the range. Its chassis was an evolution of the Lagonda's, with a de Dion tube rear suspension and a double wishbone front, and to cut costs many of the less important parts came from other companies. Despite a large, heavy all-aluminium body, the 32-valve 5.3-litre V8 produced 494 newton metres of torque, lifting performance to near sports-car levels. From January 1992 Aston Martin offered a Virage 6.3 conversion with a bored and stroked 6.3-litre V8 derived from the AMR1 racing car. The Virage was replaced by the Vanquish in 2000, by which time 1,050 had been built.