Police patrol left standing by driver of stolen Aston Martin

Police would like to hear from anyone who has seen a stolen Aston Martin Vanquish, similar to this vehicle.

A police patrol was left almost "standing still" when it tried to stop a speeding motorist heading on to Auckland Harbour Bridge early today.

The reason the officers were left behind became clear when they checked the registration of the stolen vehicle -- it was a 2003 Aston Martin V12 Vanquish, which has a 512-horsepower engine.

With Aston Martin being the marque favoured by James Bond, Inspector Les Paterson said the patrol could be forgiven "for wondering where Piece Brosnan or Sean Connery were at 4am".

"The vehicle drove on to the motorway and headed south towards the harbour bridge," he said.

"To the surprise of the officers, it accelerated away from them like they were standing still."

The black Aston Martin, registered number BPN104, was one of only three of its type in New Zealand and was believed to be worth more than $200,000.

It was stolen from an inner city Auckland apartment yesterday morning.

Police appealed to members of the public to call them if they saw the vehicle.

Mr Paterson said there did not appear to be a link with the theft of two other luxury vehicles, a 2002 Porsche 996 and a 2003 Mercedes coupe, from a home on Auckland's North Shore last week.

Both those cars were recovered and a man was arrested in relation to that incident.

- NZPA