RE: Aston Martin Rapide S revealed
Discussion
robinessex said:
I drive past an Aston Martin dealer almoset every day, and I have no idea what the models are on display. I still think the original Vanquish was sensational, still the best looker, ( or maybe the one 77 ), all the rest are clones.
Im like that, with Porsche I will go, "Oh look a 997 GT3-RS, and its a 4 litre one, cool", "With Ferrari, Oh look an F430 Scuderia" and then "Oh look, an Aston Martin", it is not that I dont like them, they look great, just dont have a lot of interest and I really dont know why.J4CKO said:
Im like that, with Porsche I will go, "Oh look a 997 GT3-RS, and its a 4 litre one, cool", "With Ferrari, Oh look an F430 Scuderia" and then "Oh look, an Aston Martin", it is not that I dont like them, they look great, just dont have a lot of interest and I really dont know why.
I suspect most people would just say "911" and for the Ferrari would just say "Ferrari". If I set my mind to it, I can tell Ferraris apart but 911s are generally baffling. Neither do I really try to distinguish which Aston is which because who cares, it's just nice to see an Aston...any Aston. Can't say the same for 911s, it's hard enough splitting generations of 911 let alone models.I personally fell in love with the db9s looks.The original rapide will always be the best looking car in its class but the rapide S just looks like it was done by mansory.It is like they purposely styled it for there most eccentric clients, what next gold and black rims with purple seats?
I hope Aston can recover from this copy and paste trend
I hope Aston can recover from this copy and paste trend
Zod said:
toppstuff said:
Utterly pointless car IMO.
Sales are woefully short of the original targets. They are rather polishing a poo here, IMO.
The bottom line is that thousands and thousands of Panameras have been sold for every Rapide. This is simply because, as a 4 door , 4 seater car, the Rapide does not work. It is too cramped. I attended a launch event and our efforts to take 4 grown men out for a hoon became so absurd we started laughing at the car. I don't think you are likely to buy one after that.
You've just made all of that up. You don't know anything about their sales targets. It is in fact their best selling model. I don't know quite how many they've sold, but say it's 1000. How many million Panameras has Porsche sold? Nowhere near millions, but it's irrelevant anyway, as Aston never set out to compete on volume with the hideous Panamera. They couldn't as they simply don't have a fraction of the capacity.Sales are woefully short of the original targets. They are rather polishing a poo here, IMO.
The bottom line is that thousands and thousands of Panameras have been sold for every Rapide. This is simply because, as a 4 door , 4 seater car, the Rapide does not work. It is too cramped. I attended a launch event and our efforts to take 4 grown men out for a hoon became so absurd we started laughing at the car. I don't think you are likely to buy one after that.
I'm 6'2" and I can sit in the back.
Here are the main points of a previous post:
http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industry/rapide-...
Production of the Rapide was originally slated at 2000 a year, all subbed out to Magna Steyr in Austria. They had an 8 year deal.
Sales have been so weak that Aston called their opt-out on the Magna steyr deal only 2 years into the 8 year deal, bringing manufacture to the UK instead.
Rather than 2000 a year, it looks like they will be lucky to make 500 a year. Maybe even less. Rapide production line has even been halted on occasion because of poor demand.
These are the facts m'lud. Easily verified.
The Rapide is already a massive flop relative to the hopes and aspirations. They planned to make 2000 a year and went public with that. That should have meant they have made 4000 plus by now. I'd be surprised if 25-30% of that target has actually been produced.
It is a shame. I'd love to see Aston do better. But IMO this car was, and remains, a mistake. And the market agrees
George29 said:
toppstuff said:
But IMO this car was, and remains, a mistake. And the market agrees
The car isn't a mistake. What you seem to have pointed out is that their estimated sales figures were the mistake.I do wonder if they would have bothered if they knew they'd end up making a fraction of the number they thought they would...
Rather than faffing around with the Rapide, Aston should have developed a proper sporting saloon or SUV, even reviving the Lagonda brand and they should have found a partner to work with so they could share platforms.
They did not.
This was a mistake IMO.
DB9VolanteDriver said:
And where did you hear that crock of s%^# ? Unless you have figures to prove it, it is simply a fabrication on someone's part.
http://www.howmanyleft.co.uk/vehicle/aston_martin_rapide_v12_autohttp://www.howmanyleft.co.uk/vehicle/aston_martin_...
seems unlikely in UK!
rcs5158 said:
The poor sales figures are a culmination of a variety of factors, poor marketing being a main contributory factor, the residuals aren't great either! There sales forecasts were ambitious which has been a stick now to be beaten with. This revamp will certainly not help sales.
Nothing to do with a 6 year Western recession, a curtailing of easy finance and no diesel option? 
f328nvl said:
DonkeyApple said:
Nothing to do with a 6 year Western recession, a curtailing of easy finance and no diesel option?
A diesel Aston? Shame on you. Mind you, I'd look at an Estate to replace the C63...What I was alluding to was that most Panameras sold have been diesels. When you just look at the Panamera Turbo the figures are probably more inline with the Rapide and from a much smaller company.
George29 said:
It's well known not to trust howmanyleft.com.
True, but short of paying for a query at DVLA that will have to do and the Porsche Panamera figures are equally subject to doubt I would say. What is certain are that the SMMT registration figures are accurate, although the public do not normally have access to the breakdown by model.
For the 12 months ending December 31st 2012 registration figures for the UK for Aston and some of its rivals are as follows. NOTE: These are UK registrations and take no account of actual manufactured numbers or of exported vehicles.
Aston Martin 932 units (down 8.98% on 2011)
Bentley 1267 units (up 22.18%)
Maserati 309 units (Down 20.36%)
Porsche 7998 units (up 25.32%)
Porsche figures include everything from the Boxster up to the Cayenne and so spans several sectors not covered by the other manufacturers above.
The level of ignorance on display in some of the posts here is staggering.
I'm 5'11 and fit fine in the back of the Rapide. No, I wouldn't want to spend 6 hours in the rear seat, but the rear seats are entirely useable seats.
Comparing the Rapide to Panameras generally is absurd. You can't buy a Rapide with a VW diesel V6, happily. They only overlap in any way at the very top of the Panamera range. IMO, the Rapide is so much better to drive that the choice would be easy even if the Rapide weren't a far more special machine, which it is. Mass-produced vs. hand craftsmanship. While I think the Rapide looked better before these revisions, it's still gorgeous. The Panamera isn't.
Production moved to Gaydon because AM thought they'd continue to sell 7000 cars/year like they did in '07, so wouldn't have capacity at Gaydon to build the Rapide. Obviously, they got this wrong, in no small part due a bit of an issue with the economy.
The different Astons models look similar to each other, but they are certainly not the same and they're absolutely gorgeous. M-Bs look similar to each other, BMWs look similar to each other, Audis look virtually identical to each other. If you can't tell the Aston models apart, pay a little more attention -- it's really not that hard.
I'm 5'11 and fit fine in the back of the Rapide. No, I wouldn't want to spend 6 hours in the rear seat, but the rear seats are entirely useable seats.
Comparing the Rapide to Panameras generally is absurd. You can't buy a Rapide with a VW diesel V6, happily. They only overlap in any way at the very top of the Panamera range. IMO, the Rapide is so much better to drive that the choice would be easy even if the Rapide weren't a far more special machine, which it is. Mass-produced vs. hand craftsmanship. While I think the Rapide looked better before these revisions, it's still gorgeous. The Panamera isn't.
Production moved to Gaydon because AM thought they'd continue to sell 7000 cars/year like they did in '07, so wouldn't have capacity at Gaydon to build the Rapide. Obviously, they got this wrong, in no small part due a bit of an issue with the economy.
The different Astons models look similar to each other, but they are certainly not the same and they're absolutely gorgeous. M-Bs look similar to each other, BMWs look similar to each other, Audis look virtually identical to each other. If you can't tell the Aston models apart, pay a little more attention -- it's really not that hard.
Speedraser said:
Production moved to Gaydon because AM thought they'd continue to sell 7000 cars/year like they did in '07, so wouldn't have capacity at Gaydon to build the Rapide. Obviously, they got this wrong, in no small part due a bit of an issue with the economy.
With respect, that is nonsense.Rapide launched in 2010. Problems with the economy were well known by then. Missing targets by a mile is therefore no excuse.
Besides, over the same period, rivals Bentley, for example, have been posting record sales INCREASES not decreases. Bentley sales INCREASED by 22% in 2012 over 2011 to more than 8500 cars. Aston are making cars in the dozens and the hundreds. This is because cars are sold in other markets, most notably Asia, where apparently next to no-one wants the Rapide ( or any other Aston, sadly, compared to Bentley or Royce
).It is a shame. But it is not right to be an apologist for AM's poor performance and the poor decisions of their board. If they made cars people wanted, sales would be higher. Other brands are not suffering in the same way.
Aston got it wrong. I hope they don't pay the price.
The management team need to pull their finger out, or recruit someone who knows what they are doing, before we lose them. And we would all hate that.
Edited by toppstuff on Thursday 24th January 08:39
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff