2009-11-05 Grey Aston Martin V12 Vantage

The VH Platform (for vertical/horizontal platform) is Aston Martin's automobile platform that underpinned their grand tourers and sports cars. It served as the basis for Aston Martin's production cars up until the introduction of the

Aston Martin DB11 The Aston Martin DB11 is a grand tourer produced by British luxury car manufacturer Aston Martin since 2016. It debuted at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2016 as a replacement to the DB9. It is the first model launched in Aston Martin's 's ...

in 2016, which featured an all-new bonded-aluminium platform that would underpin future Aston Martins. The VH platform was used in all of Aston Martin's lineup at the time excluding the One-77, which uses Carbon Architecture and the

Cygnet A cygnet is a young swan. Cygnet may also refer to: Places * Cygnet Island, a small islet in south-eastern Australia *Cygnet, Ohio, a village in the United States *Cygnet River, South Australia, a locality on Kangaroo Island * Cygnet, Tasmania, ...

which is based on the Toyota iQ. There are four variations of the VH platform.

Variants

Pre-VH Vanquish and VH Generation I

The original first-generation

Aston Martin Vanquish The Aston Martin Vanquish is a high-performance grand tourer introduced by British luxury automobile manufacturer Aston Martin in 2001 as a successor to the Aston Martin Vantage (1993). The Aston Martin "V12 Vanquish," designed by Ian Callum ...

used an advanced and complex chassis that predated the VH platform. Featuring a carbon fiber central tunnel and A pillars along with an aluminum alloy space frame, experience building the V12 Vanquish would be applied to all future Aston Martins. While the original V12 Vanquish is not considered to be a VH platform car, some consider it to be the "Ur-VH" platform vehicle as some elements of the Vanquish evolved into the VH architecture. The first true VH Chassis was an aluminum intensive structure that made its debut in the

Aston Martin DB9 The Aston Martin DB9 is a grand tourer produced by Aston Martin. Available both in coupé and a convertible bodystyles, the latter being known as the Volante, the DB9 was the successor to the DB7. It was first shown at the 2003 Frankfurt ...

in 2004, and has underpinned the DB9 through the course of its production run from 2004 to 2012. It was refined in 2008 for the 2009 model year DB9. The 2013 model year DB9 was underpinned by the Generation III platform (VH300), where it shared structural components and hardware technology from the Generation III architecture that was used in the 2011 Virage and the second-generation Vanquish (VH310) in 2012.

VH Generation II

The second VH platform underpinned the 2005 Aston Martin V8 Vantage and its

V12 V12 or V-12 may refer to: Aircraft * Mil V-12, a Soviet heavy lift helicopter * Pilatus OV-12, a planned American military utility aircraft * Rockwell XFV-12, an American experimental aircraft project * Škoda-Kauba V12, a Czechoslovak experim ...

and S variants, as well as the Vantage V12 S based

Zagato Zagato is an independent coachbuilding company and total design centre located northwest of Milan in Terrazzano, a small village near Rho, Lombardy, Italy. The company's premises occupies an area of 23,000 square metres (250,000 sq ft)- 11,000 ...

(VH290Z) and the bespoke

Aston Martin DB10 The Aston Martin DB10 is a bespoke grand tourer specially developed for the ''James Bond'' film ''Spectre'' by the British luxury car manufacturer Aston Martin. The car was unveiled by Sam Mendes and Barbara Broccoli, the director and produc ...

concept car for the

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

film

Spectre Spectre, specter or the spectre may refer to: Religion and spirituality * Vision (spirituality) * Apparitional experience * Ghost Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Spectre'' (1977 film), a made-for-television film produced and writ ...

. The DB10 was based on the V8 Vantage chassis albeit with modifications, as it featured a longer wheelbase and is nearly as wide as the

Aston Martin One-77 The Aston Martin One-77 is a two-door, two-seater flagship sports car built by the British car manufacturer Aston Martin. The car was first shown at the 2008 Paris Motor Show, although it remained mostly covered by a "Savile Row tailored skirt ...

. This platform was also used in the 2007 DBS.

VH Generation III

The third VH platform underpinned the 2011 Virage and facelifted DB9 (VH300), Virage Volante and facelifted DB9 Volante (VH340), the Vanquish (VH310), the Vanquish S (VH320) and the Vanquish Volante/ Vanquish S Volante (VH340). It was also used as the platform for the Vanquish Zagato (VH319Z), the Vanquish Zagato Volante (VH340Z), the Vanquish Zagato Speedster (VH3612ZS) and the Vanquish Zagato Roadster (VH3410Z).

VH Generation IV

Based on VH Generation III, Generation IV is a stretched and re-engineered Generation III platform used on the Rapide (VH410/VH410D) and its variants, and the Vanquish Zagato Shooting Brake (VH324ZB).

References

External links

VH Vh platform {{Automotive-part-stub