By bringing the Vanquish Zagato Concept to the shores of Lake Como, Aston Martin and Italian design-house Zagato celebrate a collaboration that started over 50 years ago.

Viewed from the front, the Vanquish Zagato Concept is quite similar to the regular Vanquish, but the second you move towards its side of the rear, you’ll find a more Fastback-like appearance with a completely redesigned rear-end that’s more reminiscent of the V12 Zagato road concept from 2012, than anything else.

There are of course more than a few Aston Martin visual features, both classic and modern, such as the One-77 inspired wing mirrors, the retractable spoiler, rear hatch design or the quad-exhausts.

The bladed LED taillights seem to stand out really well in the shade, or in the absence of light (as you’d imagine), and stay true to past Zagato-built models in terms of their overall shape – where the fact that they’re round sets them apart instantly from any sort of factory-standard Aston Martin road car taillights.

In terms of performance, Zagato’s take on the Aston Martin Vanquish comes with an extra 24 PS, sending the 5.9-liter V12’s power output to 600 PS. Unless some other, undisclosed modifications were done as well, it’s safe to assume this car would perform similar to the Vanquish in a straight line, which means a sub 4-second zero to 100 km/h (62 mph) sprint time and a top speed of about 324 km/h (201 mph).

Of course, this bespoke Vanquish is simply the last in a long line of coach-built Aston Martin Zagato models. It was actually the Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato that started this revolution off back in 1960, a car that was capable of maxing out at 280 km/h (173 mph) thanks to its 314 HP engine.

Other instant classics include the V8 Vantage and Volante Zagato, from 1985 and 1986 respectively, the DB7 V12 Zagato, Vanquish Roadster, V12 Zagato Race & Road versions of 2011 and 2012, plus all of the Zagato Centennial models, culminating with the Virage Shooting Brake.

The reason why so many Zagato-built Aston Martins throughout history have had a Shooting Break/Fastback-styled rear end is because of the company’s own philosophy. Zagato believes that luxury Coupe owners should be able to enjoy their passions (such as hunting, polo or golf) without having to take a separate car for the trip.

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