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After more than twenty years in production the classic Aston Martin V8 was clearly coming up for retirement. Aston Martin needed something new; it was time for something smaller, less expensive, and lighter. With the resources and backing of Ford Motor Company, which had taken control of the company in 1988, the NPX project as it was called received approval to go ahead.
From the pen of Ian Callum came one of the most beautiful and timeless automotive designs in history, the DB7. It is no wonder then that the DB7 turned out to be the most successful Aston Martin ever produced with over 7000 cars built during its 10 year lifespan.
The DB7 was unveiled in March of 1993 at the Geneva Motor Show to universal acclaim. The old V8 engine was dropped for a newly developed in-line 6 which beckoned back to the earlier DB models. With production still carrying on at Newport Pagnell on the V8 and V8 Vantage, a new facility was acquired at Bloxham, Oxfordshire where all DB7s would be build throughout its production run. The convertible version, known as the DB7 Volante, was unveiled at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in 1996.
Works Service also provided a special Driving Dynamics package which greatly enhanced performance and handing for those customers who wanted something more beyond the standard configuration.
For all its beauty however the standard 6-cylinder DB7 had received some criticism for its lack of power. This was rectified in 1999 when the DB7 Vantage was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show with a brand new V12 engine. With the new V12 Vantage available the market for the standard DB7 quickly dried up and the standard DB7 went out of production in the summer of 1999.
During the last two years of the DB7 various variants were introduced. The standard V12 Vantage received a host of improvements to create the DB7 GT (manual transmission) and the DB7 GTA (automatic transmission). Besides the introduction of the GT models there were two limited edition models produced including the DB7 Zagato in 2002 and the US only DB AR1 roadster.