It may be hard to believe but it has been 50 years since Concorde—the world’s first and still only supersonic passenger jet—first took flight. While the age of Mach 2 passenger flight ended when Concorde took to the skies for the last time on 24 October 2003, the plane is still very fondly remembered, and now Aston Martin has announced the latest addition to its aviation-inspired Wings Series, the DBS Superleggera Concorde.
Featuring a range of unique features through the marque’s bespoke service, Q by Aston Martin, the DBS Superleggera Concorde celebrates not only the 50 years since the speedy passenger jet first flew but also the centenary year of one of the Concorde’s two flag-carrying airline operators; British Airways. This new model joins the Vanquish S Red Arrows Edition, Vantage Blades Edition, and the V12 Vantage S Spitfire 80.
Marek Reichman, Executive Vice President and Chief Creative Officer at Aston Martin Lagonda, said of the new car, “It’s only fitting that our great British sports car brand marks the achievement of the incredibly dedicated, talented and ambitious teams of British and French scientists, engineers, designers and aircraft workers who made Concorde, and supersonic air travel, a reality in our skies 50 years ago. Using the DBS Superleggera as our starting point, and with the support of the talented personalization experts in the Q by Aston Martin service to draw on, we have been able to subtly and sympathetically enhance and highlight some of the car’s most notable features while preserving the elegance, style and sheer brutish road presence for which the Aston Martin DBS is rightly known.”
This special model features a number of unique interior and exterior design and trim changes such as bespoke side strakes milled from solid aluminum, a bespoke painted livery comprising British Airways colors on the roof strake, aero blade and rear diffuser, black tinted carbon fibre roof with Concorde silhouette graphic and authentic jet black painted Civil Aviation Authority aircraft identifier numbers and bespoke inspection plaques signed by Aston Martin Lagonda President and Group CEO Andy Palmer and British Airways Chairman Álex Cruz.
Inside there is a Concorde logo on the front seat facings, a Mach Meter graphic embroidered on the driver’s side sun visor, a unique headliner featuring printed Alcantara displaying a ‘sonic boom’ graphic, paddle shifters made from titanium from Concorde compressor blades and other design flourishes like bespoke sill plaques.
While the DBS Superleggera is strictly road-bound, its 715hp 5.2-liter twin-turbo V12 could surely have the sportscar taking to the skies were it given a set of wings. As it is, the top speed of 211mph is not far off the Concorde’s 250mph take-off velocity. While few owners will be pushing their Superleggera to those speeds, the 0-100 mph time of 6.4 seconds puts this Aston Martin in a very select club of extremely rapid supercars.
Just 10 DBS Superleggera Concorde Edition models will be made, available to purchase through Aston Martin Bristol. Pricing has yet to be announced, but a part of the proceeds from the sale of each car will be donated to the Air League Trust, a non-profit organization that teaches underprivileged children how to fly and offers support to get them involved in aircraft engineering.
Images courtesy of Aston Martin
