Aston Martin V12 Speedster Honors Brand's Past for 88 Customers

Aston Martin's next limited edition car looks back to the past as the brand heads into the future.

On Tuesday, the British automaker unveiled the Aston Martin V12 Speedster, a limited-edition topless supercar that will make its official debut in late 2020.

Designed in-house by Aston Martin's personalization division known as Q by Aston Martin, the V12 Speedster will be a driver-oriented two-seater open cockpit sports car. Its design pays homage to the 1959 Le Mans-winning Aston Martin DBR1 and the 2013 100th anniversary concept car, the CC100 Speedster.

While the teaser images don't tell us much, the deep sculpting of the sides with duckbill spoilers and large strakes from the front wheel wells to the door panels is evident. A large front splitter protrudes from the front bumper and is recessed at the bottom.

The V12 Speedster is powered by a twin-turbo 5.2-liter V12 with 690 hp and 516 lb-ft of torque; an eight-speed automatic transmission, presumably mounted at the rear of the car as a transaxle, sends power to the rear wheels.

According to Aston Martin, the company's design and Q by Aston Martin teams spent more than 12 months designing and planning the V12 Speedster. Aston Martin has also finished development of its first crossover SUV, the 2021 DBX, and the Valkyrie hypercar; the 2020 Vantage AMR will be launched at the end of 2019 with a manual transmission, while everyone will be able to see the upcoming hypercar AM-RB 003 and a reborn Vanquish update are awaited with bated breath, while a Lagonda SUV is also planned for 2022.

Only 88 V12 Speedsters will be built. Orders are being taken now, but the car will not be unveiled until late 2020, with deliveries beginning in the first quarter of 2021. The price is...