Supercars From The Void Part 3: Aston Martin Virage (Second Version)

Unlike Dauer or W. Motors from previous parts of this series, Aston Martin is a name recognized all over the world thanks to its association with the James Bond franchise. In the early 2010s Aston Martin had several cars in production, among them was the Virage. The Virage is a bit of an interesting car to say the least. It was basically positioned in between the DB9 and DBS models and meant to be a mid level option that gave more performance compared to the DB9 while not being as aggressive as the DBS.

It doesn’t sound like a bad idea, right? Only thing was, the gap between the DB9 and DBS wasn’t that much at all and so there wasn’t really a point in having a whole new car in that position, not to mention the Virage gave only incremental differences too. Aston Martin quickly realized this was not going to work out, with production of the Virage and Virage Volante cancelled just 18 months after it started.

It is estimated that somewhere between 1000 to 1100 total units of the Virage/Virage Volante were produced in 2011 and 2012 so it’s quite a rare car to come across. In 2013 Aston Martin made a facelift of the DB9 model which came with increased performance, basically replacing the Virage entirely. Since the Virage was around for such a short time and didn’t really look that different from the other Aston Martins from that era, it didn’t take long before it faded away from people’s memories.

The Virage name was first used by Aston Martin for its main V8 grand tourer back in the 1990s. While the original Virage was notable as it was the last Aston Martin to be fully hand built and is considered a modern classic, the modern second version of the Virage even though it had a V12 engine is a very specific niche and unfortunately it didn’t really have anything else to show besides being a niche.

Considering Aston Martin’s lineup is quite steady these days, I don’t think the Virage name is one we are going to see anytime soon. Until then let us take a moment to remember the second version of the Virage, the short lived but interesting niche modern Aston Martin supercar.