Identity Crisis

Ian Eveleigh reckons Aston Martin have played too safe with their latest models - and they're not the only ones

By PH Staff / Sunday, 28 September 2003 / Loading comments

For a moment I was slightly embarrassed by my blunder. Having seen the first official pictures of the new Aston Martin DB9, I immediately began to express my initial disappointment with the styling: how subtle tweaks here and there had tamed and slightly spoiled the handsomely aggressive looks... of the AMV8 Vantage concept.

Spot the difference...?

Yes, yes – I know now. The DB9 is, of course, a V12-engined 2+2 replacement for the DB7, not, as I had assumed after a quick glance at the photos, the production version of the "baby" Aston hinted at by the concept. Boy, was my face red.

Then, while attempting to forget that the incident had ever happened, I discovered that others – all keen petrolheads – had made the same gaffe. Revisiting the pictures of both cars, it's easy to see why: bar the gentle softening of a line here, the repositioning of a number-plate there, and the loss of those obligatory over-sized concept-car wheels, there is very little to enable even the not-so-casual observer to tell one car from the other. Reportedly even Aston's top man, Ulrich Bez, has momentarily confused the two upon entering the Gaydon workshop.

What Size Sir?

Given the warm reception that the AMV8 received upon its unveiling, it's pretty safe to assume that the form of the entry-level Aston is unlikely to change significantly on its journey from show-car to production reality. So, short of providing a convenient opening in its accessories range for an over-priced winged-logo'd tape measure to help car-spotters distinguish one model from the other, why exactly is Aston Martin planning to offer its customers two concurrent models that are so visually similar they might as well be called DB M and DB XL?

Certainly, endowing a new model with characteristics reminiscent of an existing one is nothing new. As well as helping to build a brand identity, it's an easy way to hint that the new kid on the block possesses the same qualities that made a success of the vehicle whose features it borrows. Why else would Porsche choose to clumsily graft that 911-alike nose onto its Cayenne? With a different, unrelated face to distance it from its pure sports car brethren, the oft-knocked SUV might just have received an easier ride from its critics. But would it sell as well? Porsche clearly thinks not.

Unchallenging?

The Aston case, though, is more extreme. It's another example of the growing trend for making entire cars look as similar as possible; individuality being tossed aside in favour of a lazy, low-risk way of ensuring that the new arrival is immediately identifiable as being from that particular manufacturer – instantly familiar and entirely unchallenging.

Aston's owner Ford has already played this game with its new Fiesta that is little more than an undernourished Focus. Others are at it too: to style its Phaeton, VW clearly just stuck the blueprints for the Passat in the photocopier and set the zoom to 120 per cent, while a number of C-class Mercedes-Benz owners have been involved in accidents with drivers who swore they were pulling out in front of an S-class that was much further away.

You're Getting it Wrong!

Yet while spot-the-difference styling is making the bulk of many a range less rich, what are the punters going potty for? The Mini, the A-class Mercedes, the Audi TT; cars with a touch of individuality, cars that don't look like shrink-to-fit versions of other models.

OK, so maybe a familiar, friendly family form can guarantee substantial sales to less adventurous car buyers, but at Aston's end of the market it makes little sense. If anything, such a shy approach to styling may even be counterproductive. Just take a look at how we react every time Ferrari launches a new model. No other manufacturer can so consistently guarantee to temporarily swell the ranks of individuals found flicking through car magazines in WHSmith in their lunch hour. And they aren't all there just to read the performance figures – they're there to put an end to the anticipation: what does the new Ferrari look like?

New and Improved!

Remember the first time you set eyes on a picture of the 456, the 360, the Enzo? Love 'em or loath 'em, I'll bet that on each occasion you were momentarily held speechless with eyes unblinking, because each time you were looking at something completely new, something stunning that you had to pause to drink in.

Aston's undoubtedly talented stylists had a taste of creating such a buzz earlier this year when the AMV8 concept was first unveiled, but if the DB9 reveals anything about Aston's design path for the foreseeable future, it's that it may be another 10 years before car enthusiasts are next stopped in their tracks by the sight of a new Aston. Unless they're just trying to figure out if they're looking at a new model at all, that is.