THERE’S SOME debate about exactly who invented the grand touring coupé but very little about where, in national terms, it happened. The popular response to the question of what the first and defining example was is the 1951 Lancia Aurelia B20 GT. It could have been the 1948 Ferrari 166 Inter, though, or the 1947 Maserati A6 – or something pre-war, even. Wherever the credit eventually comes to rest, however, the gran turismo was definitely given life and then popularised in Italy.
And, rather regrettably, it might have just been slaughtered in Warwickshire. That’s because, as far as Aston Martin is concerned, the grand tourer concept – although fine for the likes of its own DB5, Mercedes-Benz’s 300 SL, Jaguar’s E-Type and Ferrari’s Daytona – just isn’t ‘grand’ enough to effectively describe its new DB12. We’re to call this a super tourer, apparently. Luckily, we can now leave Aston’s marketing spiel far behind, because this widely updated coupé is about to test its worth by becoming the British beef between a pair of Italian panini.
On one flank is the brand-new Maserati Granturismo Trofeo, on test here in left-hand-drive form but not far off a right-hook release. On the other is the car that its DB11 predecessor could never quite topple: the painfully pretty, wonderfully
