ELBOWS OUT, ASTON

Our cup runneth over. Just when you thought the established mid-engined supercar makers had the sector sewn up, along comes yet another one.

The Aston Martin ‘Vanquish’, or whatever it’ll be called, will join the new Maserati MC20, and the latest Corvette, as new entries to the mid-engined fast car realm, alongside, of course, the ones from makers that already operate in this sphere: the Ferrari F8 Tributo (becoming 296 GTB), Mclarens various (Artura soon), the Lamborghini Huracán and the Audi R8.

Oh, plus some niche choices: the Honda NSX. An upcoming new Noble M500 (even more niche). And a new Lotus Emira positioned underneath every one of them, threatening to make them all look silly.

Who can find space within that? To carve out its niche, I think the new Aston would ideally be one of two things: either sufficiently different from the others that there’s a compelling reason to buy one, or clearly better than the rest.

In a market more crowded than some hatchback segments, I’m not sure which is easier. Who said the supercar was dead?