Ulrich Bez, Rapide and Afghans
Two impeccably-coiffured Afghan hounds stole the show at the Aston Martin Rapide launch in Frankfurt, as the company unveiled its first foray into the 'four door sports car' sector.
Describing the five metre long Rapide as a 'unique proposition', Aston's chairman Ulrich Bez seemed keen to distance the new model from potential rivals like the Porsche Panamera, with their 'sporting limo' philosophy.
PH spoke to Aston's technical chief Ian Minard at a glittering cocktail party preview for the new car on the eve of the show (yes we did, darlings!), and he too was keen to impress on us the Rapide's sporting rather than saloon car credentials.
'Put a blindfold on and drive this back to back with a DB9, and you'll be hard-pressed to tell the difference,' he told us, although he did acknowledge the extra length in the wheelbase and additional 150kgs does have an effect - an estimated 5secs on a hot Nurburgring lap against the two door DB9!
Rapide gets double grille treatment
Ulrich Bez also used his speech at the Rapide launch to cast doubt on the short-term trend towards hybrid/electric power, suggesting that real world demands would reveal real weaknesses in the new generation of sporting electric cars.
Instead, Bez called for wider industry support for hydrogen-fuel initiatives.
Bez also revealed that the economic slump has hit Aston hard, with a sales slump of 25 percent in the last year - although he confirmed that the Aston brand remained profitable.