Ten Years On: Revisiting the KAHN® Vengeance

Ten years have passed since the Vengeance made its debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2016. The decade has given the car a clearer place in the story of British coachbuilding. The KAHN® Group looks back at how it was conceived, how it was built, and why it remains the car that began the group’s return to the craft.

Coachbuilt in the Oldest Sense

The Vengeance was coachbuilt in the oldest sense of the word: a tried and tested car, completely re-bodied by hand.

An Aston Martin DB9 as the Canvas

Created by Kahn® Design under a direct-supply agreement with Aston Martin Lagonda, it took the DB9 as its canvas and wrapped it in new hammer-formed aluminium, with the width, haunches and presence of the great Astons of the early 2000s.

Designed in Yorkshire, Built in the Midlands

It was designed in Yorkshire and built by coachbuilders in the Midlands. Its debut at Geneva drew a level of attention from press and public that few at the time had predicted.

When the car was revealed, Gary Archer, then Aston Martin’s Purchasing Director, said: “There is a long and rich history of specialist coach-built Aston Martins, and we wish KAHN® every success with the Vengeance.”

The Meaning Behind the Name

The name was Kahn® Design’s own. Many of Aston Martin’s most celebrated cars begin with a V, from Vantage and Virage to Vanquish and Volante. It is a tradition Afzal Kahn has long admired, and the Vengeance was his own response to it.

The name also stood for something else. In an age of downsizing and turbocharging, the car held on to what was most loved about the old Aston V12: the raw power and sound of an engine that breathes for itself.

An Untouched V12 Heart

Each car began as a new DB9 supplied by Aston Martin, using the company’s bonded aluminium and composite VH architecture, chosen for its lightweight strength and torsional resistance.

Factory Structure, Unaltered

The structure, crash protection and mechanicals were left exactly as the factory made them. That included the 6-litre V12, unaltered and naturally aspirated.

Sound Over Power

The Vengeance was never about extra power. It was about what the V12 sounds like when nothing stands between it and the road, a quality that has only become more valued as the industry has moved further from engines of this kind.

Built by Hand

Over that foundation, a team of more than forty automotive experts worked alongside Midlands coachbuilders with decades of experience. The front wings, door skins, rear wings and roof were formed by hand over wooden bucks and English wheels.

Eight to Nine Months Per Car

Each car took eight to nine months to complete and carries an engraved plaque in the boot naming everyone who worked on it.

Tested at Millbrook

Before any car left the workshop, the design went through exhaustive testing at Millbrook Proving Ground.

Eighteen Months to Resolve the Shape

The design took eighteen months of back and forth, and countless iterations, to resolve.

Inspired by the Vanquish and V600 Vantage

Its starting point was the early Vanquish, in particular the large, bubble-like haunches and the way they intersect with the body. Alongside it sat the V600 Vantage wide bodies that Afzal Kahn has long named as an inspiration.

Wider, Lower, More Muscular

The Vengeance pulled those lines wider and set them lower, with a power bulge in the bonnet running back across the roof to the widened C-pillars and into the rear haunches.

Details That Have Aged Well

Looking back, the details that carried the car have aged well.

Billet Aluminium Grille

Machined from solid and wide-spaced, the billet aluminium grille gives the Vengeance an identity of its own.

Wing Vents and Chrome Halo

The gilled wing vents are drawn from classic Astons, and the polished chrome halo frames the rear glass.

DB7 Zagato Tail Lights and Crosshair Exhausts

At the rear, the round tail lights, inspired by the DB7 Zagato, continue to anchor the car in its lineage. The crosshair exhausts remain a direct reference to KAHN®'s own history in the industry.

Roulette Wheels

The Roulette wheels, 20-inch at the front and 21-inch at the rear in a two-tone design borrowed from the casino wheel, gave the car its planted, purposeful stance.

A Hand-Trimmed Interior

Inside, the same hand-built approach continued.

Bridge of Weir Leather Throughout

The fluted seats, inspired by early Aston Martins, were hand-stitched and retrimmed in-house. So were the roof lining, instrument binnacle, transmission tunnel, sill plates, door tops and door cards, all in Bridge of Weir leather.

Alcantara, Lacquer and Embroidery

The steering wheel was retrimmed in Alcantara, and black lacquer ran across the centre console and door caps. Vengeance embroidery marked every cabin as one of a very small number.

Owner-Specified, and the Vengeance Volante

Each car was specified by its owner, in left- or right-hand drive. A Vengeance Volante convertible followed the coupe, with its own engineering challenge in delivering the same stiffness and the same hand-formed body.

Afzal Kahn on the Vengeance

“The Vengeance was the car that proved we could do this properly,” said Afzal Kahn. “I have always admired Aston Martin design, and this was my own response to that tradition. We kept every aspect of the underlying car because it was already right, and spent our time on the part that coachbuilders have always cared about, the shape. Ten years later, it still looks like nothing else, and it still sounds the way a V12 should. That is the legacy I wanted to leave.”

The Car That Began KAHN®’s Return to Coachbuilding

The Vengeance sits alongside the rest of the group’s coachbuilt work as the car that began KAHN®'s return to British coachbuilding. The 2016 Geneva stand it shared with the Flying Huntsman 6x6 Pickup marked the moment that return became visible.

Vengeance models are available to view exclusively at Kahn Automobiles.