Aston Marin Lagonda commissioned Ghia Studio of Turin, Italy, one of Ford's three Advanced Design Studios worldwide, to design and develop a hand-made luxury car for the year 2000 and beyond. Our understanding is that the price is being kept "reasonable" by the use of pre-exsisting components, such as a Lincoln chassis. So far only the prototypes have been produced.

The Vignale is Ghia's solution to what Aston Martin calls "a car for life".




Hand finished aluminum body panels are applied to an extruded aluminum frame. Under the hood is an experimental Ford V-12 engine that is electronically controlled to turn off cylinders under light load condtions and return to full power in response to the needs of the driver and road conditions.

Inside, soft natural grained leather is used for the seating surfaces, while luxurious wool worstered Wilton carpeting and a natural wool headliner wrap the driver and passengers in splendid comfort. Advance electronics provide an on-board satelite navigation system. The instrument panel, which houses the individual dials with their traditional graphics, is constructed from a single piece of light grained laminated beech wood. Nickel finished vents for the air conditioning are positioned on either side of the face. Power operated desk trays with built in lap-top computers are provided for each of the rear passengers.

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