When the Aston Martin V12 Zagato debuted at the Kuwait Concours d’Elegance in March, the British luxury marque announced a production run of 150 Zagato units. Now, however, Aston Martin have scaled back on production plans to just 101 examples.

Rumours are of slow demand for the 380 kW limited edition supercar, but Aston says a longer than expected build cycle is to blame. “Given the hand-built nature of the V12 Zagato, the 2 000 hours required to sculpt each car and our desire to ensure its exclusivity, we have taken the decision to limit the total build to 101 units worldwide”, said Marcel Fabris, Aston Martin’s Asia/Pacific Marketing and Communications Manager.

History often repeats itself and, in the case of limited-edition cars from Italian design house, Zagato, the shrinking production numbers bode well for those who’ve already placed a deposit for the £396 000 supercar.

Take a look at the Aston Martin V12 Zagato in action.

It’s been a rather secretive project at Aston Martin’s HQ at Gaydon, in the UK, but the much sought after V12 Zagato has finally been unveiled. The new V12 Concept made its debut appearance at recently at the Villa D’Este Concours at Lake Como Italy, in order to gauge the level of interest in the car.

Call the V12 Zagato a modern interpretation of those classic Aston Martin/Zagato collaborations such as the DB4 GT Zagato, V8 Vantage Zagato and the DB7 Zagato, only this is a more brutal styling execution. Based on the powerful V12 Vantage, under the bonnet is the 6.0-litre V12 engine, which produces 380 kW and 570 N.m of torque in what should be a lighter aluminium body.

Dr Ulrich Bez, CEO of Aston Martin said: “The Zagato design language is a perfect complement to our design and engineering expertise. After 50 years of the two companies being associated with each other the partnership has produced some of the world’s most iconic cars. Of course, fifty years ago Italian design houses were widely seen as leading the way with new designs but now and supported by our independency, Aston Martin has its own in-house design ability so this new venture with Zagato is more collaborative than it perhaps would have been in the past. The task for us has been to create a concept that is a natural successor to those iconic cars that have gone before. Matching the technology of the age with the traditional skills vital to deliver such a bespoke and exclusive sports car will lead to a strictly limited run of road going V12 Zagatos.”

Aston Martin produce hand-made cars, but the V12 Zagato takes that definition to a whole new level. For example, each of the front wings are constructed with seven separate pieces of aluminium and then hand finished for a perfect flow. It gets better. Every aluminium panel is formed using an English wheel and traditional body bucks. It is simply not possible to produce a V12 Zagato using pre-formed panel techniques. Take the iconic Zagato design feature, the double bubble roof; it’s hand crafted using five separate pieces, and worthy of a place in the museum of modern art, on its own.

Just like first DB4GT Zagato launched to public in 1960 that essentially became a racing car after it’s first showing, the V12 Zagato will enter the upcoming four-hour VLN race at the Nurburgring on 28th May this year. The plan is to then race two V12 Zagatos at the 24-hour race in June – quite remarkable when you consider that the first sketches of the car were drawn in 2010.

via CarAdvice