Compared to the normal frantic scramble of a Geneva Motor Show press day this year's was remarkably calm. The cancellation of the whole event late last week meant that executives and journalists didn't make the trip to Switzerland, but with space already blocked out in the diaries of the car industry's biggest beasts we actually still got to speak to most of the people we were hoping to by phone. Not as exciting, but actually a pretty civilized way of doing things.
No chance to chat to Aston's Andy Palmer should ever be turned down, not least because of his gratifying habit of wandering beyond the discussion points his PR team would prefer him to stick to. With the recent announcement that a consortium controlled by Lawrence Stroll is buying a big stake in the company, and the suspension of EV development and cancellation of plans to enter the ACO's proposed hypercar race series, it's fair to say there wasn't any shortage of questions.
Palmer admits the decision to pause development of the proposed electric models was made so the company can prioritize development of a more important new powerplant. This is the 3.0-litre hybridized V6 that we've already been told will power the forthcoming mid-engined Valhalla, but Palmer now confirms it will be spreading throughout the range to effectively replace the AMG 4.0-litre V8 currently used in Vantage, DB11 and forthcoming DBX.
"Mercedes have made no secret of where their engine technology is moving to, and obviously we don't foresee four-cylinder engines in our Astons," Palmer said, "so we've got to make our own journey."
Palmer sees no problems in making a V6 that can deliver an Aston-appropriate level of both performance and noise. "The key is sound, tuning the pipes to make it sound like an Aston," he said, "obviously we can use the hybrid system and the electric motor to fill in on torque so you can compensate for the cylinder size with the electrical assist. As long as it feels like a V8 and sounds majestic I think it's a perfectly sensible way to go, and a lot more sensible than an I-4 would be for us."
As for output - well, it could hardly be allowed to make less than the AMG motor, could it?
"As you move on you normally expect a power increase, not a decrease," he said, "you're supposed to do that even with a smaller power unit - so there's no way our customers are going to expect to step backwards."
The new engine is set to be built in the UK - we can expect an announcement shortly - and company insiders also say the brand plans to repatriate production of the 5.2-litre V12 which is currently made at the Ford plant in Cologne, with both engines being produced together. That's an impressive commitment to the larger motor, especially as other manufacturers indicate their 12-cylinders are heading to the chopping block.
"You can see in the longer term it won't last," Palmer admitted, "but certainly over the next few years we can continue to produce V12 engines and we can make them more CO2 friendly."
While admitting the proposed UK ban on the sale of all combustion engines by 2035 is going to pose a serious challenge to luxury car makers, he also insisted it won't necessarily stop Aston from selling such cars in other markets: "the key point is that we make cars for the world and the world hasn't said there isn't a future for hybrids or plug-in hybrids. If we were only selling to the United Kingdom it would be different, but we're selling to a worldwide market where there are a variety of views in terms of future technology and how it will be deployed."
Geneva was meant to mark the debut for the roof and screen-free V12 Speedster. Like McLaren's Mike Flewitt, Palmer admits to being surprised by the number of cars that will be vying for attention in this rarefied bit of the market, but insists the Speedster will succeed. "We've positioned it in a somewhat different space, with a relatively low number - 88, which happens to be lucky for the Asian market - and with pricing that looks quite modest compared to the others."
While £765,000 is hardly chicken feed, it does mean the Aston will be cheaper than the Ferrari Monza, McLaren Elva and limited-to-12 Bentley Bacalar.
Palmer was also refreshingly forthright on Aston's decision not to enter the ACO's 'Hypercar' Le Mans class, despite having previously suggested it would.
"They changed the rules, nothing more, nothing less," he said, "they allowed in the IMSA vehicles. It was nothing to do with the state of the company, nothing to do with internal politics, nothing to do with anything other than that the ACO destroyed the business case. We were led to believe we were going to be racing hypercar against hypercar, but we didn't anticipate there would be a lower cost way of racing a year later. The whole case just fell to pieces."
While admitting Aston still has plenty of challenges, Palmer insists the company has a clear path to stability, principally through a smooth launch of the DBX. "As it stands today the reset of the plan basically relies on getting DBX away smoothly, that will be the focus of our commitment this year," he said, "then Valkyrie, which is an intense project, launched next year and then moving onto those mid-engined cars. I think that's plenty of ambition to be going on with."
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