Aston Martin Wrestles Gasoline From the Grasp of World's Sexiest Sedan

by Steph Willems

Published: March 21st, 2017

aston martin wrestles gasoline from the grasp of world s sexiest sedan

We’re all used to driving curvaceous V12 sedans, right? Now, how would you react to news that your luxury automaker of choice planned to strip all fossil fuel-related hardware from it just to satisfy some squares with exceptionally strong regulatory powers?

That’s the situation for fans of the Rapide S, which Aston Martin claims is — in AMR guise — the world’s fastest four-door vehicle. Aston claims it just can’t keep building all of these 12-cylinder beauties in Europe’s regulatory environment. For some vehicles, gas has to go. And guess which model takes the first hit?

Speaking to Australia’s Motoring, Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer said the Rapide S has no future beyond this decade. It seems that looming emissions requirements will put the kibosh on the model’s 6.0-liter V12. However, the Rapide name isn’t disappearing entirely.

The quintessentially British automaker expects an electric version of the Rapide in short order, possibly named the RapidE. Get it?

“So obviously there’s a platform for the electric Rapide, so it has life in front of it, but the Rapide as you see it today is also going to be replaced by the DBX on one hand and the Lagonda on the other,” Palmer said.

The limited-production, uber-luxurious Lagonda is apparently all the gas-powered four-door Aston needs. It should appear by 2020. Meanwhile, the RapidE, or whatever name the automaker gives it, is expected to be a muscular green performer. Official power output isn’t known, but it could be in the order of 800 horsepower.

“It’s coming 2018. It’s around the corner,” said Palmer of the coming EV.

In a bid to cut down on air pollution, many European cities are considering laws mandating gas-free motoring on certain days of the week, or in certain downtown locales. No one with money to burn wants to drive their vehicle to the suburbs, only to hop on a train. The all-electric model could also prove appealing to well-heeled Chinese customers.

[Image: Aston Martin]

#AstonMartin #AstonMartinRapide #ElectricCars #Europe #EVs #ProductPlanning #Rapide

Steph Willems

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6 of 17 comments

CarnotCycle on Mar 21, 2017

A gas-turbine parallel hybrid would be fitting for an Aston; a unique shameless excess, a can't-miss-it 'exhaust note,' smooth as electric anything, powerful beyond anything, and always breaking down somehow. Plus it'd run E85, biodiesel, whatever. With a plug-in module, there'd be more re-energize opportunities between fuel stations and electric outlets for that car than anything else operating.

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- Cognoscenti on Mar 21, 2017
  
  What's next - Mr. Fusion, as connected to the Flux Capacitor?
  
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OldManPants on Mar 21, 2017

Renderings for 6-figure cars should get details like light sources right. If the sun can glint square off that AM's grille area than it should also be highlighting the masts, sails and the building in the background.

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- Rcousine on Mar 21, 2017
  
  Notice the double shadow; I think the implied light sources are behind the car and somewhere high and near the front. This isn't appreciably more fake than any other photo shoot, where it would be completely legit to pop a big reflector or maybe just the studio flash of the gods about 6" outside the front of the frame here. Yeah, it's probably a rendering, but the light sources aren't why it is so.
  
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- OldManPants on Mar 21, 2017
  
  @rcousine Now that I view it at leisure it reminds me the of old-timey Hollywood schtick where a close-up of people "driving" a car was foreground and a patently fake moving landscape background. Could this be a pro-lit photo of the car shopped onto a noticeably less resolved and therefore blurred background scenic?
  
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- Rcousine on Mar 21, 2017
  
  @OldManPants Yes, but it could also be a pure rendered car-model composites on top of the blurry background, there's multiple ways of doing it, and the photo isn't hi-res enough to hunt for too much detail. My guess is it's a rendering of a car composited onto the marina background, but it could be a real car, too. Back to the car, I think if they get the car bits right, there's every reason an all-electric version could be great. The real-world users of these will do just fine with this amount of range, and no they don't generally drive around near top speed, like, ever. Look for Rolls Royce to be the obvious next adopter of electric drivetrains.
  
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