Kahn to make Aston Martin-inspired sports car and bespoke Defender

Range Rover tuner says it will look to build its own version of the Land Rover Defender and a new Aston Martin-inspired sports car

Kahn's restyled Aston Martin will use a bespoke aluminium body

Kahn Design, the Bradford-based company best known for its customised Range Rovers, is about to launch a business that will build unique cars designed and engineered within an expanded Kahn group. 

Later this year, after launching a heavily modified Land Rover Defender, Kahn Design intends to release a retro-styled barchetta. It will be followed in 2015 by a completely restyled Aston Martin, which uses a bespoke aluminium body.

Company founder Afzal Kahn told Autocar that the company’s first stand-alone model would be a ‘long-nose’ Land Rover Defender powered by a V8 engine driving a six-speed automatic gearbox.

Dubbed the ‘Flying Huntsman’, the Defender has an extra 400mm of bodywork inserted into the nose, just ahead of the windscreen. Under its bonnet is a 550bhp 6.2-litre General Motors LS3 V8. 

This engine, which is mounted close to the Defender’s bulkhead, drives a six-speed auto operated by push-button controls. The first prototype is currently being completed at the company’s Bradford HQ.

Later this year, an all-new two-seat roadster will be launched under the Ant-Kahn brand. Kahn has teamed up with Ant Anstead, owner of the Evanta Motor Company, which builds high-end replica cars ‘inspired’ by classic Aston Martin models, including the ultra-rare DB4GT Zagato.

The new car is described as an ‘imagined’ open-top version of the Zagato. The model is based on a tubular spaceframe chassis and powered by a detuned version of the 6.2-litre V8 LS3 engine. The body panels are made from a carbon composite material.

A single example of an earlier version of this barchetta, based on Jaguarrunning gear, was built in 2013 under the Evanta badge. It is currently on sale for £120,000.

Although the new Ant-Kahn may offend purists, the final car is claimed to be a close replica of a period Aston but with robust, modern mechanicals and will cost about £96,000.

This barchetta will eventually be joined by a related coupé, which will have unique styling inspired by Italian designs of the period.

Next spring, Ant-Kahn will reveal a bespoke rebodying of a contemporary Aston Martin model. Although it is still at the design stage, Kahn told Autocar that his design has been greatly influenced by the Vanquish.

He hopes that his reworking of a modern Aston has the kind of brutal, stand-out character that, he feels, the current line-up lacks.