DBS Superleggera: Anatomy of Aston Martin’s Flagship

A twin-turbo V12, a name borrowed from Italian coachbuilding, and a lineage back to the late 1960s. What the modern Aston Martin DBS actually is.

The modern Aston Martin DBS, sold as the DBS Superleggera from 2018 to 2024, was the brand’s flagship grand tourer, replacing the second-generation Vanquish^[1]. Its name does real work: Superleggera honours Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera, the Italian house that helped Aston Martin build its lightest grand tourers in the 1960s and 1970s^[1]. The DBS badge itself reaches back further still, to Aston Martin’s grand tourers of the late 1960s^[1]. This is a car assembled from the brand’s own history.

The heart of it

Under the bonnet sits a 5.2-litre AE31 twin-turbocharged V12 producing 725 PS — 715 hp — with 900 N⋅m of torque held flat from 1,800 to 5,000 rpm^[1]. That torque figure is the car’s character in a single number: effortless, everywhere, always. An 8-speed ZF 8HP95 automatic sends it all rearward from a front mid-engine layout^[1].

The numbers

Aston Martin claims 0–100 km/h in 3.4 seconds and a top speed of 340 km/h — 211 mph^[1]. Those are supercar figures delivered with grand-touring manners, which is precisely the DBS brief: a car for crossing countries quickly rather than chasing lap times. Two body styles were offered: the coupé and, from April 2019, the DBS Volante convertible with its eight-layer soft top^[1] — the same performance with the sky included.

The farewell

The range gathered special editions along the way — the DBS 59, the TAG Heuer Edition, the DBS GT Zagato, and the 007 Edition^[1] — before the DBS 770 Ultimate closed the book. The send-off raised output to 770 PS and was limited to 499 cars split between coupés and convertibles, every one sold before release^[1].

In the maker’s lineup, the DBS sat at the very top: the grand tourer above the grand tourers, the car that took over the flagship role from the Vanquish^[1] and held it for six years. Its character is easy to summarise and hard to replicate — old names, modern force, no pretence of being a track tool. The full specification lives on the full Aston Martin DBS database page, and if you want to see how the flagship trades today, browse live DBS listings.