Aston Martin’s new halo model, Vanquish, embarks on a tour of Britain to visit every single one of the brand’s 21 dealerships nationwide. The car set off yesterday from Aston’s headquarters in Gaydon, on its way to Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, where it makes its first stop at the recently redeveloped Aston Martin Works dealership.

Actually, the Vanquish is not driving from place to place in this tour. It rides in the back of a lorry. They just bring it out at each dealership for a brief preview. And it’s not like everybody can go and see the car. It will be shown only at invitation-only customer preview events.

We do realize the car costs £190,000 and Aston might be worried it gets damaged or whatever, but treating it like a princess doesn’t feel right somehow. Astons used to be manly, brutish cars. Least they could do was let it ride on its own wheels.

And if you think Aston’s decision to show the car to only a few people is discrimination, you can still get an invite. What you have to is tweet an image of the truck using the hashtag ‘#vanquishtour’ and receive a ‘follow’ from the official Aston Martin twitter account.

Mark Kenworthy is Aston Martin’s General Manager of Sales & Aftersales in the UK. He said: “The levels of interest in new Vanquish that we’ve been experiencing here in the UK as well as around the world – and even before a single customer has driven the car – have inspired this tour.

“I’m sure those lucky enough to see the new car close up over the coming days will be thrilled by it, and I’m very happy that we’ve been able to give our UK dealers this opportunity.”