[ad}First announced on the 1st of September 2008 by Aston Martin CEO Ulrich Bez, the brands revival was planned in order to expand the business into more luxurious territory (to be read Rolls Royce or Maybach), while keeping Aston Martin as a Gran Turismo maker. The Lagonda moniker was last seen on a limited series of saloons and shooting brakes based on the Aston Martin Virage and built in 1994.
Since Aston Martin took over the Lagonda name in 1947 there has been a lot of platform sharing or even badge engineering between the two brands, so the same story will continue into the future as well. The two marques will have sufficient distinct features to be differentiated though.
While Aston Martin will mainly build luxury GTs, Lagondas will be mainly fast luxury sedans, both brands sharing the Aston Martin VH platform.
"Lagonda will stand as a brand in its own right," said Julian Jenkins, general manager of Aston Martin North America. "We're moving into markets where sports cars aren't the cars of choice, like China and South America. We didn't want to make Lagonda into a softer Aston, or an Aston with a luxury pack."
Declining to offer any more details about the future Lagonda models, Automotive News Europe reports that two sedans are planned. A more expensive and luxurious Aston Martin Rapide-based variant and a slightly smaller Mercedes-Benz S-Klasse competitor with a sticker price of around $100,000. The smaller sedan is planned for 2012, and will probably be built alongside the Rapide and its Lagonda brother in Graz, Austria, by Aston's Magna-Steyr contractor.
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