The Aston Martin Lagonda Vignale is a five-seater concept car built by

Ghia Carrozzeria Ghia SpA (established 1916 in Turin) is an Italian automobile design and coachbuilding firm, established by Giacinto Ghia and Gariglio as "Carrozzeria Ghia & Gariglio". The headquarters are located at Corso Guglielmo Marconi, 4, Tu ...

for

Lagonda Lagonda is a British luxury car brand established in 1906, which has been owned by Aston Martin since 1947. The trade-name has not had a continuous commercial existence, being dormant several times, most recently from 1995 to 2008, 2010 to 20 ...

. It was designed by

Moray Callum Moray S. Callum (born 19 November 1958) is a Scottish automobile designer who was vice president, design, for Ford Motor Company, having retired on 1 May 2021. His elder brother Ian Callum was the Design Director of Jaguar from 1999 to 2019. E ...

and unveiled in 1993 at the

Geneva Motor Show The Geneva International Motor Show was an annual auto show held in March in the Swiss city of Geneva. The show was hosted at the Palexpo, a convention centre located next to the Geneva Cointrin International Airport. The Salon was organised b ...

alongside the

Aston Martin DB7 The Aston Martin DB7 is a car that was produced by British luxury car manufacturer Aston Martin from September 1994 to December 2004. It was designed by Ian Callum and Keith Helfet as a grand tourer in coupé and convertible (car), convertible b ...

, designed by Moray's older brother,

Ian Callum Ian Stuart Callum (born 30 July 1954) is a British car designer who has worked for Ford Motor Company, Ford, Tom Walkinshaw Racing, TWR, and Aston Martin. In 1999 he became the Director of design for Jaguar Cars, later Jaguar Land Rover, a pos ...

. Built to gauge interest for a 4-door Aston Martin model, the concept was well received, but never went into production as Ford decided that the Lagonda brand would be too expensive to revive due to its relative obscurity outside of the U.K. Interior Design by David Wilkie: Colour and materials by Sally Ericson.

Specifications

The Lagonda Vignale is based on an extended 1990

Lincoln Town Car The Lincoln Town Car was a model line of full-size luxury sedans that was marketed by the Lincoln division of the American automaker Ford Motor Company. Deriving its name from a limousine body style, Lincoln marketed the Town Car from 1981 t ...

chassis and uses that car's 4.6 L

Ford Modular V8 The Ford Modular engine is an overhead camshaft (OHC) V8 and V10 gasoline-powered small block engine family introduced by Ford Motor Company in 1990 for the 1991 model year. The term “modular” applied to the setup of tooling and casting s ...

engine producing and of torque and mated to a 4-speed automatic transmission. It also shares the Town Car's independent front, and solid rear suspension. It was planned that a production version of the Lagonda Vignale would utilise a , 48 valve

V12 engine A V12 engine is a twelve-Cylinder (engine), cylinder Internal combustion engine#Reciprocating engines, piston engine where two banks of six cylinders are arranged in a V engine, V configuration around a common crankshaft. V12 engines are more c ...

. The body of the Lagonda Vignale is made from composite materials and features nickel trim in place of chrome to take advantage of the subtle tones found in nickel. The interior was designed by David Wilkie and its materials were chosen by Sally Wilson. It features analine-dyed parchment leather, beech wood and aluminum trim, woolen carpets and headliner, nickel

brightwork Brightwork also known historically as "bright work" refers to the exposed and varnished wood or metal work of a boat. The metal is usually brass or bronze that is kept polished, or stainless steel, which requires less maintenance. In the past, ...

and rear power operated desks which feature a laptop on one side and a vanity on the other.

Production

Three Lagonda Vignales were built in total. The original two, built by

, had seating for five and used the Town Car 4.6 L V8 engine. One was finished in grey while the other was finished in Sorrento Blue. The grey car was destroyed, while the blue car was sold in 2002 by Ford for US$403,500 at auction, surpassing its estimate of US$60,000–120,000. The third car, built by the Works Service department and codenamed DP2138, featured a myriad of changes from the original design with the intention of putting the car into production. It used a different Ford platform, giving it smaller dimensions, changes to the design, including different headlights and a redesigned grille, burgundy paintwork, and, most notably, a Jaguar V12 engine. Additionally, it could only seat four as the rear bench seat had been replaced by twin armchairs. Only one example was built and it was sold to the Sultan of Brunei for £1.3m in 1995.

References

{{Aston Martin vehicles timeline Lagonda Vignale Cars introduced in 1993 Rear-wheel-drive vehicles Sedans Lagonda vehicles