The Sunday Times Magazine - UK (2022-01-23)

The Sunday Times Magazine • 51

Aston Martin V12

Vantage £250,000+

James Bond’s favourite carmaker
is, like the spy himself, defiant in
the face of adversity. It may be
losing cash and counting the times
it has gone bust — seven since it
was launched in 1913 — but that
doesn’t stop it making great cars.
This year a new V12 Vantage will
screech into showrooms, marking
what the company says is “the end
of an era”. Collectors, be ready
with your chequebooks. This isn’t
just a limited edition, it’s the final
edition. Just 300 will be made,
and from the hand-stitched
leather interior to the fire-
breathing engine it’ll be a beauty.
Full marks to Aston for ballsiness.
It has created a £2.5 million
hypercar, the Valkyrie, and is
taking on the world in F1 racing.
Like Butch and Sundance, if it hits
the skids again at least it’ll go
down fighting and — thanks to
that V12 — with a fearsome roar.
Expected: March

Ferrari Purosangue

£200,000+

We never thought we’d see

a Ferrari SUV, but finally the

company has bowed to the

inevitable. Lamborghini’s Urus

and Aston Martin’s DBX opened

the door and Ferrari grudgingly

stepped through. Purosangue is

Italian for thoroughbred, but

judging by leaked reports this

latest addition to the Scuderia is

more packhorse than racehorse.

The late Enzo — the company

founder — would have spun like

fusilli in his grave. As long as the

car’s performance lives up to its

name Ferrari can rely on brand

loyalty to sell it. Available first with

a formidable 789bhp V12, a hybrid

V8 will follow. Two electric models

are on the drawing board, but a

battery-powered sport-ute may

be too much even for die-hard

Ferrari fans. Perhaps that’s why

the firm insists the Purosangue is

not an SUV, it’s a... Ferrari.

Expected: December

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the industrialist

and Britain’s richest man in The

Sunday Times 2018 Rich List, was

so cross at Land Rover’s decision

to scrap the old Defender that he

decided to build his own. The end

result looks more like the original

than does Land Rover’s own

replacement — a fact that irked

Land Rover. Last year a court

rejected the company’s appeal

to the Intellectual Property Office

to protect the classic Defender’s

shape — a blocking tactic that

may have succeeded had Land

Rover remembered properly to

trademark its design. The ruling

gave Ratcliffe the legal window

he needed to bring the new 4x4

to life. With a ladder-frame

chassis, tried and tested BMW

six-cylinder engine, permanent

four-wheel drive and front and

rear locking differentials, the

design imperative is durability.

We still don’t know how the

French-built Grenadier drives on

or off road but the winner of this

grudge match will be customers.

Expected: July

Ineos

Grenadier

About £48,000