There was no way that Aston Martin could continue to sell the V8 through the 1990's. With huge effort and a relatively tiny budget, the Virage was unveiled to an excited audience at the Birmingham Motor Show. The Virage was still powered by the familiar V8 but this time with a 48 valve head. It was a massive leap for the company, which sadly occurred just when the economy took a sharp downturn. The development of the open Virage Volante kept the factory ticking over during the early 1990's and until the colossal Vantage came on stream.

With twin superchargers, the V8 engine was now producing 550 bhp making it one of the most powerful cars available at the time. The Virage was updated in 1996 and gained the styling of the Vantage. Also the Volante was similarly modified but also gained another 200 mm into the wheelbase. But the Newport Pagnell factory still had a largely hand built product and the market for such expensive cars was somewhat limited. The last Newport Pagnell V8, a special edition Vantage Volante was completed in November 2000, and the era of coach built cars was closed.