Monday 1st July 2019

Aston Martin DBX heads brand's Goodwood debuts

British firm to dynamically demonstrate SUV for the first time alongside Vantage AMR and DBS Volante

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Aston Martin is making the most of its spotlight at Goodwood this week by giving three new models their public dynamic debuts in front of what’s expected to be another sell-out Festival of Speed crowd. 2019’s featured marque will send a DBX, manual Vantage AMR and Volante version of its DBS Superleggera up the Duke of Richmond’s driveway, giving spectators their first chance to see the cars on the move and at full pelt. With the DBX now in its pre-production phase, the brand said it’ll even go so far as to use the FoS runs as part of its testing process; we’re interested to see if the car to be driven by chief engineer Matt Becker will be V12 or V8 powered, as both variants are expected at launch.

Aston, which recently kicked-off production at its new St Athan site in Wales, will also send WEC racer Darren Turner charging up the hill in its all-electric Rapide E, the 612hp EV for which the firm recently started taking orders. Just 155 cars are being offered with each buyer being called upon to provide feedback to the company’s Welsh facility, which is to become its electric hub as well as the birthplace of the DBX. To that end, Turner’s impressions from the hill drives will likely also be in demand, so it won’t be all fun and games at the FoS.

Although Turner and Aston’s weekend didn’t go to plan at the recent 24 Hours of Le Mans, the firm is celebrating the 60th anniversary of its famous one-two finish at the iconic race with the DBR1 by launching a new Vantage 59 livery for its Vantage AMR. The vintage theme will continue with the attendance of Aston’s DB4 GT Zagato Continuation, while the modern celebration of the British company’s work with Zagato, the new line-up of Vanquish-based coupes, Volantes and Shooting Brakes, will also be on show.

Aston Martin CEO, Andy Palmer, said: “We are a business that is currently experiencing a momentous period of growth. Attending the Festival of Speed allows us to showcase our latest developments in electric and SUV technology while celebrating the rich history of our past.” Like we said, Aston is not letting its time as the 2019 FoS’s focal brand go to waste! And by the way, neither is PH; we’ll be adding our little EnduroKa racer to the list of static displays for the weekend…

[drpep]

Good for you Aston. While SUVs are not my thing, they certainly fill the coffers, and I wish them the best of luck with this endeavor. Here in the US they'll sell like hotcakes given the widespread proclivity to vehicles of elevated ride height.

As with Porsche, this marks a step outside of the fold for Aston. Let's hope the execution is 'on brand' as it was for Porsche. To my mind, that means this should have solid performance stats (400hp+), engaging on-road handling, and be an OK off-roader like a Macan, SQ5 et al.

[rodericb]

whoah the face on that camo'd up thing looks like some sort of dopey deep sea fish.