Motivation. This might just be the word of the century, with virtually everybody looking to step up their game by tapping into unexplored potential. And Aston Martin is now an example of how a big name can go through such a process. Thanks to its Second Century Plan, the British carmaker is currently in the midst of a rebirth that takes it from the mid-engined trifecta it displayed in Geneva (Valkyrie, AM-RB 003 and Vanquish) to the DBX SUV landing later this year. Of course, this kind of growth strategy must be strengthened by market presence and the carmaker opened a new Central and Eastern Europe command center in Bucharest, Romania today.
Aston Martin Bucharest will spearhead the automaker's operations in six other countries, including Bulgaria, Moldova, Hungary, Serbia, Montenegro and Slovenia, while also being able to cover servicing operations.
In fact, the Romanian entity has been operational since last fall. It has already received orders and even delivered cars to an unspecified number of customers - since Aston Martin is now listed on the stock exchange, no sales figures were currently released by the said dealer and we'll have to wait for the mothership to deliver such numbers.
Dr. Andy Palmer, Aston Martin's CEO, flew in from New York for the grand opening of the dealership. And the head honcho didn't come alone (he was actually chauffeured in a Rapide S, but this is not the point). Instead, he brought along the AM-RB 003 dream from Geneva. And from the negative space aerodynamic profile, to the floor padding that represents the seats, the "Son of Valkyrie" has the power to make everybody in the room weak in the knees.
Later this year, we'll get to meet the production version of the DBX and we can't wait to see what kind of a crossover comes out of the hands of a company that was able to produce such a bewildering machine on its first attempt to deliver a mid-engined vehicle range.
Speaking of the room, the Bucharest facility occupies 1,500 square meters, with this being spread between the showroom (configuration lounge included), the servicing area and underground parking.
For those of you wearing business attire, we'll mention that Aston Martin Romania is part of British Motors EEC, itself included in the Forza Rossa Holding, whose Managing Director is Camelia Balzac.
Now, back to that AM-RB 003, a machine that will receive a proper name along with a price tag expected to climb towards €1.5 million - as you'll notice in the piece of footage below, Dr. Andy Palmer talked about a production run of 500 coupes.
So yes, we're eager to learn more about the potential AM-RB 003 Volante and here's a rendering of such a derivative. After all, we're expecting Aston's mid-range, mid-engined offering to receive a similar treatment to that of its Vanquish "little" brother, whose Volante and track-focused AMR Pro incarnations have already been confirmed.
In his quest to bring you the most impressive automotive creations, Andrei relies on learning as a superpower. There's quite a bit of room in the garage that is this aficionado's heart, so factory-condition classics and widebody contraptions with turbos poking through the hood can peacefully coexist. Full profile
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