The Aston Martin Vantage GT3 has already been presented and the 100 units to be produced already have a certain destination. Even so, the GT3 nomenclature will have to be replaced by another, due to Porsche's rights to the much-loved identification.
It was predictable that Porsche would have a say in the GT3 denomination that the most radical of the Aston Martin Vantage uses. Since 1999, the name adorns the body of the Porsche 911, serving as a synonym for the most purist versions of the legendary German sports car.
The 911 GT3 were and are developed by Porsche Motorsport, and are the basis for the competition 911 that compete in the GT3 category defined by the FIA. But the commercial success of the 911 GT3 spanning several generations is why Porsche argues that the GT3 nomenclature is its property when paired with road models. Argument contested by Aston Martin, which states that the nomenclature refers to a category of motor competition.
It is now known that this dispute has been going on for months. And Porsche emerged victorious from the dispute, with Aston Martin not wanting to enter into a onerous court case. A consequence of all this is the announcement by Aston Martin of the change of the name of the Vantage GT3 to Vantage GT12. To reinforce the change, the competition Vantage GT3 will also be hereinafter identified as the Aston Martin Vantage GT12.
Interestingly, Porsche was not opposed to using the designation on the recent Bentley Continental GT3-R. Advantage of belonging to the same group?
As a final note, the GT3 appellation originally appears on a road model not by Porsche but by Lotus. The Lotus Esprit GT3 appeared in 1996, and, like the Porsche 911 GT3, it was a lighter, more nude and more focused version of the Esprit. Unlike the 911 GT3, the Esprit GT3 was the entry-level model for the range, swapping the V8 for a 2-liter supercharged 4-cylinder and 240hp.
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