Aston Martin’s final sedan, the Rapide, retired in 2020. We’ve not seen or heard of a successor since, and that is as a result of it isn’t coming. Whereas the British firm has quite a few new fashions within the pipeline, it confirmed {that a} high-performance luxurious sedan is not certainly one of them.
“Undoubtedly no sedan,” mentioned Alex Lengthy, the corporate’s head of product and market technique, in an interview with Australian website Automobile Gross sales. The publication added that it realized from unnamed insider sources that the enterprise case for a Rapide successor merely does not add up, and that Aston Martin can thrive within the 2020s with out returning to the sedan section. That is improbable information for Rolls-Royce and Bentley.
Aston Martin’s heritage is rooted in two-door GT fashions, however the model has dabbled within the sedan section on and off for many years. Sub-brand Lagonda bought a limited-edition, ultra-high-end sedan known as Taraf alongside the Rapide from 2015 to 2018; about 200 models had been constructed. The long-wheelbase four-door borrowed a handful of styling cues from the distinctive, William Cities-designed Lagonda sedan constructed from 1976 to 1990. This lineage remained within the product roadmap as just lately as 2015, when ex-CEO Andy Palmer introduced a Lagonda-badged sedan.
Meaning the DBX, which is accessible in two flavors, will stand proud as Aston Martin’s solely four-door automobile within the foreseeable future. As for the remainder of the vary, the fashions that can see the sunshine that awaits on the finish of a manufacturing line within the coming years will all put an enormous deal with efficiency. Deliveries of the brand new DB12 will begin within the not-too-distant future. Subsequent is a alternative for the Vantage, and it’ll later be joined in showrooms by a alternative for the DBS. Lastly, the Valhalla ought to land in 2024 with a mid-mounted engine to sort out Ferrari.
In the event you’re questioning what a successor to the Rapide might need appeared like, try the Lagonda Imaginative and prescient idea launched on the 2018 Geneva auto present. The design examine was characterised by a placing, futuristic-looking design and a lounge-like inside with swiveling seats.
