The Vantage is central to Aston Martin's efforts to establish a record of profitability as it prepares for a potential initial public offering. The Gaydon, England-based carmaker showed progress on Wednesday when it reported pretax profit of 22 million pounds ($29 million) for the nine months ended Sept. 30. Sales, led by the DB11, were up 84 percent to 567 million pounds from a year earlier, when Aston Martin posted a loss.