New Aston Martin DB11 Volante Looks About Ready To Blow Its Top

When Aston Martin revealed the new DB11 a little over a year ago, it didn’t just represent the end of an exhaustive, ground-up development process. It was the start of a new series of models set to come from the British automaker.

Pretty much everything that Aston will make for years (if not decades) to come will be based on the DB11’s new platform, powertrain, and other technologies – starting, most directly, with the DB11 Volante you see here.

Spotted while undergoing testing at the Nürburgring with minimal camouflage is the forthcoming convertible version of the luxury grand tourer, which will incorporate a folding fabric structure like so many drophead Astons past (rather than a retractable hardtop of some kind).

Otherwise we can expect it to be mechanically identical to the coupe already launched, including the 5.2-liter twin-turbo V12 developed with Mercedes-AMG to deliver 600 horsepower and 516 lb-ft of torque.

Both the coupe and convertible, however, are expected to soon get a V8 option as well, which will make it not only (relatively) more accessible but presumably better balanced with less weight in the nose – much as rival Bentley demonstrated with the V8 version of its Continental models undercutting the requisite W12 versions.

However close it looks to being ready, Gaydon’s made itself pretty clear about its intention to launch the DB11 Volante in the spring of 2018. So we’ll have to wait another year for it to arrive, but you can scope it out in the meantime in these latest spy shots from CarPix.