Local fans of the beautiful range of Aston Martin cars will no longer need to drool hopelessly over their favourite Vanquish or DB9's dog-eared pictures . . . You'll be able to salivate on a more "personal" level, since the premium British marqué has set up shop in South Africa.

Local fans of the beautiful range of Aston Martin cars will no longer need to drool hopelessly over their favourite Vanquish or DB9's dog-eared pictures... You'll be able to salivate on a more "personal" level, since the premium British marqué has set up shop in South Africa.

The franchise has been awarded to the Daytona Group and Aston Martin Sandton will occupy 1 000 m2 of the group's new 7 000 m2 facility in the Johannesburg suburb, where it will sell new and used cars with service, parts and workshop facilities.

Justin Divaris, managing director of the Daytona Group, said: "We consider the opportunity to represent Aston Martin in South Africa to be a privilege and our single most exciting and rewarding accomplishment to date."

Aston Martin currently produces the DB9 Coupé, the DB9 Volanté and the Vanquish S. Deliveries of the V8 Vantage will commences at the end of the year and Aston Martin has increased its global dealership network to 125 to support the expected increase in sales.

The Vantage is the smallest car in the line-up and is equipped with a 4,3-litre V8 engine. The quad-cam 32-valve engine produces maximum power of 283 kW at 7 000 r/min and peak torque of 409 N.m at 5 000 r/min.

The Warwickshire manufacturer claims a sub-five second zero-to-100 km/h sprint and a 274-km/h top end.

Locally, the first deliveries of the Vantage, in limited numbers can be expected in the last quarter of the year.

Original article from Car