By squeezing its mightiest engine into its smallest coupe, Aston Martin has made its highest performance car ever. The 600 horsepower two-seat V12 Vantage RS was unveiled as a concept, but prototypes are already undergoing trials and the company says the car is production-feasible.

During the car's unveiling at the opening of the company's new design studio at its central England headquarters, Aston Martin CEO Ulrich Bez said he would seriously consider selling a few if people were interested in paying. "As ever, if there is sufficient demand then we will seriously consider a low volume production run in the near future with a price that will reflect the exclusivity of the car," said Bez.

That's a 'yes' then. Aston collectors are always interested, and the company regularly makes short-run specials, such as the DB7 Zagato. As for the V12 Vantage RS concept, 'The near future' means around the end of 2008. And it's likely that we're talking at least 100 cars.

The Vantage coupe normally comes with a 380 horsepower 4.3-liter V-8, allowing it to return an MT tested 0-60 mph run in 4.4-seconds.

Now imagine the effect of stuffing a 6.0-liter, semi-race V-12 under that hood. Bez talked of '550 to 600' horsepower as he unveiled the RS concept, but written material handed out on the night listed 600 horsepower, at 6250 rpm, with torque at 509 lb-ft. It also spoke of 0-62 mph in 4.0 seconds, and a sprint to 100 mph in just 8.5. The engine is a dry-sumped unit related to the DBRS9 gentleman racecars.

To heighten the performance, weight has been cut. The concept does without a sound system and has a lightweight interior with race seats in place of electric chairs, trimmed in lightweight Alcantara. A carbon-fiber center tunnel, door trim, and console do their part to up the sport-factor.

The hood and trunk lid are carbon-fiber as with the recent DBS. The wheels are light items, and the high-dollar carbon brakes save weight, too. The car's officially-claimed weight is said to be around 3525 pounds, but those in the know speak of below 3400.

It's claimed the huge motor has surprisingly little effect on weight distribution. The V8 Vantage shows 51:49 front to rear, and the V12 concept is claimed to go little beyond 52:48.

The design changes on the concept are mostly highly functional, aimed at keeping that engine cool. The hood is sliced with no fewer than four rows of louvers, and the front bumper has ducts to the vast carbon-ceramic brakes. Meanwhile to control aero lift, at the rear there's a diffuser in the bumper, and a deployable spoiler rises from the behind the rear windshield.

One of the more amusing facets of the design is the badge. Given Bez' obsession with Porsche - he was once chief engineer there - the RS script bears a striking similarity to the same letters on hot 911s.

Freshly hatched in the Aston laboratory, the Vantage RS looks certain to make a break for freedom soon

In the six months since Aston Martin slipped free from Ford's corporate shackles and entered into private ownership, something akin to America's infamous spring break has been kicking off in Warwickshire.

While the naked college girls and the tankerloads of Miller Lite are yet to show up at Aston HQ, the sudden hormonal release there began with the arrival of the brutal, raucous, over-muscled DBS. With that car, we witnessed the first signs of a step-shift in the company's philosophy, away from slick and subtle in favour of a far louder, more testosterone-addled proposition.

And the DBS represented just the slightest whisper of what was set to follow. Enter the Vantage RS. No one - really, no one - saw this thing coming. Rest assured that when they put it into production, and the hints are heavier than plutonium that they will, the RS will make a noise like few other cars allowed to drive across the face of this planet.

Under that multi-vented bonnet sits a V12 in place of the 'regular' Vantage's V8. That's a 600bhp, 6.0-litre V12 taken straight from the DBRS9 race car. Just imagine a DBRS9 driving up your high street, terrifying the grannies and treating the window of Starbucks like a Rolf Harris wobble board.

Nought to 62mph is said to pass in 4.0 seconds dead, so almost a second faster than the Vantage V8 can manage, while 0-100mph is demolished in just 8.5 seconds. The top speed, whenever they get around to testing it, is certain to pass the double ton. More pressingly, Aston's engineers have been forced to face one crucial question during the initial design process: given that the engine, at 300kg, weighs 93kg more than the existing V8, how exactly will they make the RS go round corners properly?

The answer begins with the ruthless slashing of extra flab that clearly has had to occur elsewhere. Start with that bonnet. Was a tally of 38 cooling louvres strictly necessary? No matter, every gram of missing bodywork helps. And on the subject of the bonnet, it's made of skimpy carbon fibre here, just as with the DBS.

A carbon ceramic composite is used for the simply gigantic brake discs, while the carbon fibre continues with the bootlid, the jutting front splitter and virtually every inch of the snug interior that isn't clad in soft, fluffy grey Alcantara. It's like finding yourself in a Le Mans themed womb in there.

Deep, lightweight race buckets and four-point Schroth harnesses keep you fixed firmly in place, while, behind the passenger's head, a couple of thick braided hoses with blue anodised couplings feed into the rear of the car, where an FIA-approved safety valve is mounted to cut off fuel supply from the, again motorsport-spec, bag tank if the car flips over.

A few other points of note inside. The gearbox is a conventional six-speed manual, operated via a trad lever and clutch just as in first versions of the DBS. A brushed alloy plaque set into the carbon-fibre sill protectors bears the legend: 'Vantage RS - HANDBUILT IN ENGLAND'.

Is Aston addressing concerns that the upcoming Rapide four-door could be built elsewhere? And a new button has emerged in the midst of the fascia, an over-ride for a pop-up rear spoiler that otherwise is set to automatically deploy at 70mph and retract at 50mph.

In all, the Vantage RS tips the scales at close to 1,500kg - a remarkable feat, given the extra heft of the V12 and the fact that a V8 Vantage has a kerb weight of 1,630kg. All this would count for little if much of what weight there is sat over the front end, but no. Impressively, the RS has a balance of 51 per cent front to 49 per cent rear.

Flip that bonnet and you can see how they've managed it. The fat V12, with its bespoke exhaust manifolds, high-strength forged pistons and rev-hungry camshafts, has been pushed as far back into the bulkhead as is humanly possibly - mechanics will weep at the prospect of attempting to gain access. Also, the engine is pushed low to reduce C of G, a position made possible by the use of a dry sump with the oil tank located in the boot.

Hardcore it may be, but, as mentioned, the Vantage RS is likely to be far from a one-off. As Aston boss Ulrich Bez said at the car's unveiling: "We will listen with interest to feedback on this concept and, as ever, if there is sufficient demand, then we will seriously consider a low-volume production run in the near future, with a price that will reflect the exclusivity of the car."

That statement comes with the assurance that quality will continue to be addressed and development will be thorough. But, in a sense, one conclusion can't be avoided. The spirit of TVR lives on.

The Aston Martin V8 Vantage continues to build on its advantages -- exclusivity, hand-stitching, and that winged badge -- to make it a full-bodied competitor to that other marque from Stuttgart. According to Car magazine, the Vantage will get some engineering tweaks and its engine capacity will grow by almost half a liter, to 4733-cc. A year ago Aston merely fiddled with the ECU on the N400 and found 20 extra horses. We hope an even more plump double digit number comes with this kind of growth in displacement. The cabin is also expected to receive a polish, with things like the Ford key -- and perhaps the Volvo switches -- being kicked out of the old boy club. A face-lifted range of DB9s is also expected. All of these changes leads us to our one request for Aston, please be careful with what is already perfection. We've selected the most choice high-res images of the V8 Vantage from Aston Martin's media website and assembled them in a gallery below. Enjoy and don't drool on your keyboard.

The newly housed Aston Martin Design team has selected a name for the colour of the company’s V12 Vantage RS concept car, after inviting suggestions from the public at the opening of the company’s new Design Studio last year.

The V12 Vantage RS was unveiled in December by Chief Executive Officer, Dr Ulrich Bez, who, during his speech, invited suggestions to name the colour of the concept. The Aston Martin design team was inundated with suggestions, and after careful consideration has selected ‘Mako Blue’ as the name of the concept colour.

Design Director, Marek Reichman said: “The name is taken from the Mako shark, which is the fastest and most agile shark known to man. We thought the name not only reflected the colour, but also that the nature of the shark was synonymous with the character of the car.

“The Maori translation for ‘Mako’ is ‘Blue Lightning’ which obviously is descriptive of both colour and car - a very befitting name.”

Mat Watson, who penned the winning name added: “The name came to me instantly, when I first saw the car. There is a distinct parallel between the shark and the car – both being the fastest of their kind.”

The environmentally sustainable Design Studio is the marque’s first purpose-built and fully-owned design facility. The Vantage RS concept features a 600bhp 6.0 V12 engine and has been subjected to a weight-loss programme. The result is the fastest ever road-going Aston Martin.

Aston Martin is currently evaluating feedback from customers to the Vantage RS concept, with a view to a possible low-volume production run should sufficient demand exist.