The fastest-accelerating Aston Martin will likely be electric powered rather than petrol in two years' time when the firm launches the first of a range of electric cars with between 800 and 1000hp on tap and all-wheel drive.
The first will be an electric version of the Rapide, CEO Andy Palmer told PistonHeads at a recent industry event. After that comes the electric DBX SUV around 2019 then after 2020 an electric version of the Lagonda saloon is a strong possibility, he said.
Palmer said he was adamant that V12 versions of each car would also be sold alongside the EVs. He added that the decision to go electric was inspired more by regulations for a low CO2 sales average in places like China than a desire to go after the Tesla market.
His theory is that if Aston has to go low CO2, then silent electric welly is more in keeping with the 'Soul' element of Aston's 'Power, Beauty, Soul' tag-line than a downsized petrol. "God forbid we have to put a turbo 1.6 inline four in an Aston Martin, but we have to do something," he told the audience at an event held by Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) in London this week.
Palmer has plenty of experience bringing an electric car to market - he was behind the launch of the Nissan Leaf while at the Japanese firm. But that has 107hp. Can he really do achieve 800-1000hp? "That's the task I've set. I don't normally fail," he told us with a cockiness Aston's most faithful customer, James Bond, would surely approve of. He said all-wheel drive was essential to prevent all that power dissolving away in a smoky burnout (not his actual description).
Aston Martin said yesterday it was going to shed 295 staff as it tries to end its boom-and-mostly-bust financial status quo and modernize the new-car development process. "Aston was still developing cars using a Ford system when I arrived [last year]," Palmer said. "That process is no longer relevant." He said development times for new models like next year's
DB11 supercar
had shrunk from four years to 18 months and was also much cheaper thanks to computer simulation cutting the need for so many prototypes.
Aston Martin and Palmer have certainly got their work cut out modernizing that development process, honing their new platform and producing electric cars to crush even a Tesla Model S in Ludicrous mode. But next year's DB11 with the turbo'd Mercedes V8 shows he won't be rocking the boat too much. As Palmer says of electric propulsion: "Traditional customers may take a bit of convincing".