Earlier this month, Aston Martin unveiled the Vantage GT3 Special Edition at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show. Essentially a road-legal version of the endurance race car bearing the same name, the GT3 Special Edition left many enthusiasts in awe, mostly due to its 592-horsepower rating and numerous race-spec bits inside and out. Porsche, on the other hand, was less impressed with Gaydon’s new track-prepped GT. In fact, Stuttgart was somewhat annoyed by the fact that the Brits named its newest sports car the GT3 and had its lawyers call Aston Martin’s lawyers a short while later. The Germans argued that they have been using the GT3 name since 1999 and filed a trademarked for it in 2011.
Aston Martin, on the other hand, insisted that the FIA GT3 racing series enables car makers to use the GT3 moniker on road cars freely and that the name had also been used before Porsche added it to the 996-generation 911 back in 1999. The previous GT3 car the Brits are referring to is the Lotus Esprit GT3, which went into production in 1996. Interestingly enough, Bentley also made use of the name for the Continental GT3-R, a road car loosely based on its GT3 class racer, but used a slight variation as to avoid trademark infringement.
The issue has been resolved outside the court, according to Goodwood Road & Racing, which reports Aston Martin has opted to rename both the road car and the race car the Vantage GT12.
Continue reading to learn more about the Aston Martin Vantage GT3.
Porsche Forces Aston Martin To Change Vantage GT3 Name originally appeared on topspeed.com on Wednesday, 25 March 2015 07:00 EST.
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