Facing stricter emissions regulations, Aston Martin has no other way but to downsize and electrify in the coming years ahead of 2030 when it will effectively terminate the combustion engine in a road car. Some models will lose the petrol unit much sooner as the folks from Gaydon have already announced the Vantage and DB11 replacements will switch solely to EV power from 2025.

Meanwhile, the British brand has released a fresh teaser image of what could go down in history as its final V12-powered road car, unless there will be one-offs separate from the Vantage, which actually seems likely. Shown alongside its predecessors, the flagship version is wearing a new grille with horizontal slats, flanked by vertical air intakes. A prominent front spoiler lip is also noticeable, presumably as part of a larger aerodynamic package.

Gallery: Aston Martin Vantage RS V12 Spy Photos

Although not visible here, the V12 Vantage's swansong could have centrally mounted exhaust tips judging by the spy shots of prototypes running around the Nurburgring earlier this year. Aston Martin's answer to the Porsche 911 Turbo S is expected to boast a hood bulge to make room for an engine presumably inherited from the exclusive V12 Speedster.

It's too soon to say whether the twin-turbo 5.2-litre engine will be detuned or it will match the V12 Speedster's 691 bhp (515 kilowatts) and 555 pound-feet (753 Newton-metres) of torque. A recent report from The Supercar Blog states the engineers will tweak the engine to bring it down a notch in terms of output, but still around 650 bhp at the driver's disposal.

Based on the same, yet-to-be-confirmed source, the car will have a full carbon fibre body to shave off weight and the plan is to make only 299 examples. If the source is accurate, the world premiere is scheduled to take place in March 2022, although that seems too late since this is already the second teaser released by AM in December.

As a final note, it's worth mentioning the Aston Marin models powered by V12 and other lesser combustion engines, could still live past 2030. In a shareholder report published back in March, CEO Tobias Moers said gasoline-fueled vehicles restricted to the track will account for five percent of the company's annual production output from the end of the decade.