Swansong: Aston Martin's Vantage AMR

It looks like Aston Martin may be putting its 12-year-old Vantage platform into retirement. The firm's new AMR variant is intended to be the popular front-engined sports car's swansong.

Commonly referred to as the baby Aston, the Vantage has seen a host of special editions and coach-built versions over the past decade. The most iconic of these is the monstrous V12-engine Vantage, which later spawned the beautiful Zagato version.

Earlier this year, Aston Martin revealed a track-only AMR edition of its Vantage sports car at the Geneva motor show, but it has now announced a road-going version to signal the end of production for the car.

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Buyers can choose between a 430bhp V8 model or a 595bhp V12, both of which can be specced with either manual or automatic transmissions.

The cars have been given a handful of visual tweaks that the base models lack. AutoExpress says these include special paint schemes such as "white and orange, black and blue, blue and red or silver and grey".

Optional extras include "several finishes for the alloy wheels" and an aerodynamic upgrade pack that adds a carbon fibre rear wing and small carbon fibre canards at the front.

Models with a V8 engine sit on five-spoke wheels and V12s have ten-spoke rims, reports Autocar. Buyers can also spec the same "forged aluminium wheels that take their honeycomb design from the Vantage AMR Pro concept seen at the Geneva motor show".

Aston Martin's chief executive Andy Palmer said: "The Vantage has been an incredible success for Aston Martin, both in V8 and V12 forms.

"Limited production numbers will undoubtedly make them extremely collectible, but they're so good to drive I'm confident we'll see many of them being enjoyed both on the road and at track events around the world."

The Vantage is expected to be replaced by an all-new model next year, says Autocar, as a development mule for the sports car has been spotted testing at Germany's 12.9-mile Nurburgring circuit.

Only 200 V8 models and 100 V12s will reach production, with prices starting at £97,995 for an eight-cylinder example.