Thoughts From Frankfurt: The Brits Abroad

Aston Martin and Jaguar

Two famous British car manufacturers had plenty to say in Frankfurt, but for Aston Martin and Jaguar their own circumstances behind the scenes couldn’t have been more different. From both being part of the Ford empire – and still sharing the same patch of Warwickshire earth – to Aston’s new private ownership and Jaguar’s current… well, we’ll come onto that in a minute.

For Aston Martin, Frankfurt was the culmination of a remarkable year. With a class win at Le Mans, a clean transition into new hands and a future that looks bright, it faced the crowds with plenty of new product.

We’d all been looking forward to seeing the DBS and thankfully it didn’t disappoint. Until now, opinion in the PH office had been split over its styling, some liking the pumped-up DB9 ‘look’ while others disliking the thought of a graceful ‘9’ ever having to wear body styling. As for Bond, well, if it rolls over that easily…

Never mind, up close and personal the DBS is really rather seductive indeed, with great detailing throughout the car. In our collective opinion it’s achingly desirable and the thought of a more sporting chassis, more power (510bhp) and a manual ‘box is rapidly propelling it towards the top of our grand sporting GT stakes. So, go on then – le question de jour: Ferrari 599 or Aston DBS? We’ll leave it with you…

The Gaydon firm also brought along two new race-inspired cars – the Vantage N400 and the DB9LM. The former is a homage to Aston’s participation in the 24 hours of the ‘Ring, but also an opportunity for it to introduce a factory honed go-faster V8. We’ve had the Prodrive version, but Aston has been chipping away at the V8 since its inception, and the N400 is the culmination of what it knows so far. Power is raised to 400bhp and the car gets a sports pack that brings revised springs, dampers and rear anti-roll bar along with new wheels. We’re not too sure of the Karrusell orange paint (black and silver are the other choices) or the embroidered map of the ‘Ring on the transmission tunnel, but overall, this could be Aston’s best drivers car yet.

The LM naturally commemorates the Le Mans victory and is more straightforward. It’s an auto coupe with the sports pack as standard and a few cosmetic tweaks. We also hear that charismatic old wobbler, the DB9 Volante, has had some serious work done to tighten things up.

Over at Jag there may have been the full range on the stand, but we certainly didn’t notice it. Frankfurt was all about one thing only – the new XF. Everyone had an opinion on the styling on the XF – even the bloke who sold us our lunch managed a few words of broken English.

Much of the mechanicals are carried over from current Jaguars, but that’s no bad thing – they’re all first class oily bits. We’ve every reason to think it drives well too; by and large modern Jags really do. We even liked the interior, especially some of the wood finishes and ‘surprise and delight’ features.

But will it save the company? No point in asking us, as it matters not what the media thinks, but whether the collective mind of the public can be swayed to think something different about the brand, let alone who ends up owning the company. There’s a long way to go but it’s possible. But then we can’t stand the thought of this most emotive of British brands disappearing down the plug hole...

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