I think it is only the Brits that call a shopping trolley, a Shooting Brake. In Australia they are known as Station Wagons, but whatever, here is a new one designed and built by Aston Martin, a company better known for beautiful cars driven by James Bond.
Now, I ask you, does Mr Bond really do his own shopping? And if he does, why the great urgency for quick getaways? Doing a runner at the check-out perhaps? The price for a loaf of bread gone up that much? I ask you, do we really need 300 km/h vehicles to carry the children’s school bags?
In actual fact, this so-called ‘Shooting Brake’ is only a two seater, so I hope you haven’t got more than one school ager.
But if we look upon the AM Shooting Brake as a styling exercise, then perhaps they can be excused, but practical it is not. So on that parameter, AM has built a failure. However, they can hide behind the Big Z (that’s Zagato, not ZZ Top).
The Shooting Brake is the fourth member of an exclusive range of Vanquish models redesigned by the famed Italian coachbuilder Zagato, joining the Coupe, Volante (convertible) and Speedster variants, and the first time Aston has created a factory-built wagon-style vehicle.
But this is nothing like your average football mum’s taxi. As showcased by the images, the Vanquish Zagato Shooting Brake has a steeply raked, floating-style roof that incorporates its signature double bubble treatment and extends over the liftback with a sharp rear wing.
On the positive side, the extended rear section provides more useable storage space than the other Zagato variants and comes complete with a set of specially-tailored luggage for the occasional cross-continent luxury holiday, leaving the children behind, of course.
As for the rest of the car, it faithfully uses the unique Zagato-designed elements of its three siblings with all-new bodywork, including its hallmark spotlights in the front bumper, gaping intakes in the front fenders and floating taillights at the rear.
Under the bonnet, the Shooting Brake is powered by an uprated version of Aston’s venerable 6.0-liter naturally-aspirated V12, which produces 444 kW and 630 Nm and drives the rear wheels through a rear-mounted eight-speed automatic transaxle gearbox.
Only 99 of the Shooting Brake versions will be built, and all have been pre-sold to loyal collectors (with a maximum of one child). Aston has not revealed price details for the model, which is expected to cost around $1 million.
