In the automotive world some partnerships are just meant to be - Charles Stewart Rolls and Henry Royce, Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler, Ford and Carroll Shelby - but few partnerships can consistently turn out such head turning cars as the one between Aston Martin and Italian design house, Zagato. And they are at it again with the new V12 Zagato.

Built to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the first collaboration between the two automotive greats the V12 Zagato takes over from the One-77 as Aston Martin's most exclusive offering with only 150 examples of the hand built car scheduled for production.

Based on the V12 Vantage the Zagato features striking bodywork constructed from hand rolled aluminium and carbon fibre that sees the new car weigh in at over 100kg less than the model on which it is based. Sporting the trademark Zagato double-bubble roof, each example takes a mind-numbing 2,000 man hours to build with 100 of those required just to apply the paint - available in one of four unique colours - Scintilla Silver, Alloro Green, Alba Blue or Diavolo Red.

Powered by the same 510hp, 6.0-litre V12 engine as the Vantage the Zagato should complete the benchmark 0-62mph in 4.2 seconds and has an estimated top speed of 190mph. The V12 Zagato will make its debut in showroom-ready trim at the Kuwait Concours d'Elegance next week with production due to begin September.

Just before you run off down to your local Aston Martin dealership to place an order there is the small matter of the price. Each of the 150 V12 Zagatos will set their owners back a cool £330,000 and that is before local taxes. In the UK buyers can expect to get little change back from £400,000, which makes the £187,000 DBS Carbon Edition seem like a bargain!

Paul Healy - 9 Feb 2012