Aston Martin continues its centenary celebrations at Frankfurt with fresh lineup

2013 is a global celebration for the luxury sports carmaker - which is marking its centenary - and the festivities continue in Germany with show attendees offered a glimpse of the CC100 Speedster Concept - created to mark the brand's first century as well as hint at its future design direction. Moreover the British marque brought its two newest production models - the V12 Vantage S and Vanquish Volante.

The V12 Vantage S, arrives in showrooms around the globe in a couple of weeks, and is the brand’s fastest accelerating production car to date - taking just 3.9 seconds to sprint from nought to 100km/h.

Race car technology runs right through the DNA of the V12 Vantage S with, for instance, CNC machined combustion chambers and hollow cam shafts. The new Sportshift III Automated Manual Transmission (AMT) is a major development of the automated manual gearbox that appears in the current V8 Vantage S.

The new transmission provides motorsport-style paddle shift changes for optimum performance delivery and efficiency. The unit is also lighter than the outgoing six-speed manual gearbox by 25kg. A new exhaust system - derived from the One-77 - is lighter, smaller and even more revoltng than its predecessor.

Aston Martin's other newcomer is soft drop Vanquish Volante. Alongside its coupe sibling the Vanquish Volante sits at the pinnacle of the luxury automaker’s sports car lineup. Vanquish Volante boasts the same AM11 6.0-litre V12 engine as the coupe and the same blistering performance figures, including a century sprint in just 4.3 seconds before maxing out at 294km/h.

It is the first fully carbon fibre-skinned Volante in the brand's 100-year history, while also being the stiffest Volante body structure yet created by the engineering team at Gaydon in Warwickshire, England. The design of Vanquish Volante represents the latest take on Aston Martin's iconic visual language.

Styling cues such as the elegant waist, elongated side strakes and LED rear light blades are derived from the One-77 supercar while the folding fabric roof sits beneath a tonneau and decklid that have been aerodynamically tuned for optimum performance. Each body panel on the car is constructed from carbon fibre not just because of its high strength-to-weight ratio, but also for its flexibility of form.

As practical as it is well-dressed, the Vanquish Volante boasts a boot that's fully 50 percent larger than that of the previous DBS Volante. It measures 279 litres - roof up or down - and makes the new Aston Martin the perfect choice for continent-crossing grand tours as well as daily drives.