Aston Martin V8 Vantage: Al Fresco Aston

Aston Martin has released the first official shots of the new Vantage Roadster. It was launched at the Los Angeles motor show (most of them will be sold in the US), and although you can place your order right now, UK deliveries won’t start until the second quarter of 2007, just in time for summer. No firm prices have been announced yet, but expect to pay a £5-6K premium over the £82,800 coupe.

As is common practice these days, the Roadster was conceived at the same time as the coupe, meaning that greater rigidity has been designed into the bodyshell than would previously have been the case. Although the Roadster is undoubtedly heavier (Aston is yet to reveal by how much) and uses the same 380bhp V8, its performance is claimed to be a match for the hard-top car.

The Roadster uses a fabric hood that features one-touch operation and raises or lowers in 18sec, at road speeds of up to 30mph. When folded its sits beneath a rigid tonneau cover with twin humps that are said to reduce turbulence within the cockpit, as well as housing the pop-up roll-over hoops.

In addition to a six-speed manual gearbox, the Roadster will be available from launch with Aston’s new Sportshift automated manual transmission, which will add a further £3000 to the price.