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Cardi Concept 442 Is a Coachbuilt Aston Martin DB9 from Russia

After the Jaguar XJ-S-based Aston Martin DB7 of the 1990s, the Gaydon-based marque poured all its resourced and know-how into the DB9. The GT model made its public outing in 2003 and production is slated to cease by the end of 2016, as in when the all-new DB11 is slated to roll off the production line.
Cardi Concept 442 7 photos
Photo: Cardi
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Needless to say, the DB9 shows its age inside and out. On the used car market, the grand tourer can be bought for pennies. A coachbuilder from the Russian Federation has other plans for the DB9, though. Instead of leaving it to depreciate, Cardi wants to turn the DB9 into a genuinely unique machine.

Cue the Cardi Concept 442, an Aston Martin DB9 with a body shell that harks back to the 1974 Aston Martin Lagonda without copying the four-door sedan from days gone by. There’s a lot going on here, as you can also see. The renderings provided by Cardi are detailed enough to get a feeling of the thing. Apparently, the Concept 442 won’t share any sheet metal with the DB9.

The photograph that features the DB9 sans its body shell in the workshop is yet another tell-tale sign of how many changes the Moscow-based outfit will have to reskin the British interloper. Another highlight of the Cardi Concept 442 is its interior. In the rendering provided by the Moscow-based company, we can see that lots of wood, sofa-like seats, as well as a digital instrument cluster are the biggest modifications over the cabin design of a stock Aston Martin DB9.

According to a report by avto24tv, Cardi won’t make any changes whatsoever to the powertrain of the Concept 442. Depending on the donor car, that translates to between 444 horsepower (450 PS) and 540 horsepower (547 PS) for the naturally aspirated 5.9-liter V12 and an automatic transmission. Heaven knows how much the Concept 442 will cost when Cardi finishes development on it.
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About the author: Mircea Panait
Mircea Panait profile photo

After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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