Photo: Aston Martin
Ground-hugging grand touring is what Aston Martin is mostly about. With the DBX, however, the British automaker aims to diversify the range with a low-slung crossover that was initially intended to borrow a platform from Mercedes-Benz. Still, that ain’t gonna happen, and for good reason.
The low-slung crossover went official at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show. Since then, the DBX Concept stopped by RAF St Athan, where Aston Martin bought three hangars from the Ministry of Defence. It’s in those hangars the DBX will be born, with production scheduled to start in 2019.
To give credit where credit is due, the DBX Concept looks unlike anything else Aston Martin did before or since. In fact, the company’s first utility vehicle doesn’t look anyting like other ultra-luxury crossovers, a detail chief creative officer Marek Reichman takes pride in. In fact, he argues that Aston Martin does it much better than the Volkswagen Group.
“It’s our platform, therefore it’s our proportion,” Reichman told Car Advice. “So it’s not an Audi Q7 with a Bentley face, it’s not a Volkswagen with a Porsche face – I know it came out as a Porsche but it started as a Volkswagen.” Shots fired, but the man has made his point loud and clear considering how hard it is for the Volkswagen Group to give all those MLB Evo-based sport utility vehicles their very own identities.
“It’s our architecture, so every millimeter is determined where I want it, where it’s right for vehicle architecture to make it drive, ride and handle beautifully, and have a brilliant internal package,” added Reichman. Reading between the lines, beauty will be on par with the way the DBX will handle in the twisties. And that’s thoroughly exciting considering how dynamically capable the all-new Vantage is in the most basic of configurations.
The Second Century-based DBX will be offered with 4.0-liter V8 and 5.2-liter V12 engines in the first instance. Later on, electrification will make its way into the range, with the DBX expected to be offered with hybrid assistance and as an all-electric SUV. The road to pure-electric drive will be spearheaded by the RapidE, which will debut in 2019 with know-how from Williams Advanced Engineering.
To give credit where credit is due, the DBX Concept looks unlike anything else Aston Martin did before or since. In fact, the company’s first utility vehicle doesn’t look anyting like other ultra-luxury crossovers, a detail chief creative officer Marek Reichman takes pride in. In fact, he argues that Aston Martin does it much better than the Volkswagen Group.
“It’s our platform, therefore it’s our proportion,” Reichman told Car Advice. “So it’s not an Audi Q7 with a Bentley face, it’s not a Volkswagen with a Porsche face – I know it came out as a Porsche but it started as a Volkswagen.” Shots fired, but the man has made his point loud and clear considering how hard it is for the Volkswagen Group to give all those MLB Evo-based sport utility vehicles their very own identities.
“It’s our architecture, so every millimeter is determined where I want it, where it’s right for vehicle architecture to make it drive, ride and handle beautifully, and have a brilliant internal package,” added Reichman. Reading between the lines, beauty will be on par with the way the DBX will handle in the twisties. And that’s thoroughly exciting considering how dynamically capable the all-new Vantage is in the most basic of configurations.
The Second Century-based DBX will be offered with 4.0-liter V8 and 5.2-liter V12 engines in the first instance. Later on, electrification will make its way into the range, with the DBX expected to be offered with hybrid assistance and as an all-electric SUV. The road to pure-electric drive will be spearheaded by the RapidE, which will debut in 2019 with know-how from Williams Advanced Engineering.
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