ASTON MARTIN chose the Geneva Motor Show to launch AMR - a new brand that brings a new dimension to Aston's famed dynamism and performance.

Reflecting Aston Martin's racing pedigree, AMR takes technology and inspiration from motorsport and takes Aston Martin's road cars to new extremes.

Two AMR concepts have been unveiled in Geneva - the Rapide AMR and Vantage AMR Pro.

The Rapide represents the first tier of AMR, enhancing the four-door sports car with a comprehensive suite of power, chassis and styling upgrades, plus a spectacular new interior treatment.

The Vantage AMR Pro - heavily influenced by Aston Martin Racing's WEC winning V8 Vantage GTE - is the pinnacle.

While future development of the core AMR models will be the responsibility of Aston Martin's central vehicle engineering teams, development of all AMR Pro models will be led by the team at Aston Martin Advanced Operations.

Underlining Aston Martin's commitment to its new high-performance brand, AMR's European development and brand centre will be based at Aston Martin's state-of-the-art Nürburgring Test Centre.

The Rapide AMR features a 600bhp version of Aston Martin's six-litre naturally aspirated V12 breathing through a new quad exhaust system. It is the world's fastest and most thrilling four-door, capable of 210mph.

The Vantage AMR Pro is an extreme, track-only high performance motor powered by a 507bhp power pack, a development of Aston Martin Racing's GT4 race engine, and is the most powerful V8 Vantage ever.

Aston Martin's president and chief executive Andy Palmer, said: "As passionate enthusiasts of Aston Martin's competition pedigree, AMR is something we have wanted to bring to fruition for some time. Cars such as the Vantage GT8 and Vantage GT12 confirmed that our customers love raw, race-bred models.

"As proof of that intent I'm incredibly excited to announce that we will be putting both the Vantage AMR Pro and Rapide AMR into production. The Vantage in an extremely limited series of no more than seven cars and the Rapide as a run of only 210 cars.

"They are the start of something very exciting - a programme that will eventually see an AMR version of every model in the Aston Martin range."