Aston-Martin Future Cars

Just weeks apart from one another, we learned not only that Aston Martin was working on its own hybridized V-6 and that the version found in the Valhalla supercar will be named TM01, after the great Tadek Marek. Now, thanks to a new interview between Aston CEO, Andy Palmer, and Autocar, we’ve learned even more about the sheer versatility of the TM01 and what the future holds for it. As it turns out, it’s going to be spread across the entire Aston range over the next few years – an important development, no doubt.

As incredible as it may seem, Aston Martin hasn’t had a production-ready engine built in-house since 1968. That’s about to change once the mid-engined Valhalla hits the streets in 2022.

We’ve known for a long time that the Valhalla will be gifted with an F1-inspired, turbocharged and electrified V-6, and we recently reported that Aston Martin was hard at work on this very engine. We had no idea, however, it will pay homage to one of the industry’s most creative engineering minds. Enter the TM01, named after the great Tadek Marek.

There’s no shortage of independent designers. In fact, you could almost consider them modern-day backyard mechanics, just on a digital level. Basically, anyone with a stylus and Adobe subscription is considered an artist. There are a handful of really good artists out there, some that are more talented than most, and designer Tedoradze falls into this category. His latest piece of work is an impressive one too – it’s a rendering of a successor to the current Aston Martin DB11. Aptly called the DB12, this is what the future of Aston Martin could look like. Do you agree?

Aston Martin wants to build a V-12-powered speedster. Does it sound odd to you? It shouldn’t, because AM’s rivals have got a head start and are either currently selling a speedster or found themselves very close to launching one on the market. There’s Ferrari’s Monza SP2, Porsche’s 911 Speedster, and McLaren’s Elva. Even Bentley has been rumored to be considering one.

So where does that leave Aston Martin? Well, obviously, it has got to come up with a speedster of its own. Which it will, because the blueprints are there and now there’s an official announcement that says Gaydon will play the speedster game. You’ll have to shake up your memory quite a bit for this one, but try to remember the CC100 concept Aston Martin showed back in 2013 for its 100th anniversary, because that’s going to be the carmaker’s starting point.

It’s been 25 years since Jaguar discontinued its last supercar, the great XJ220 amid poor sales at a time when people really weren’t eager to buy $1 million mid-engined monsters. Nowadays, there are more millionaires than ever in the world and Jaguar, while focusing on expanding its EV lineup, could be planning a shock return to the world of high-performance supercars with something inspired by the jaw-dropping and all-electric Vision Gran Turismo presented late last month. This may well become the halo car for a new era of the Leaping Cat.

When Aston Martin set out to build the DBX, it had two choices: borrow a platform from Daimler or develop its own bespoke platform. Aston Martin decided to take the road less traveled and started designing its very first SUV from a clean sheet. There’s a lot of good that comes out of AM’s decision to build its own platform, but there’s some bad involved in it as well.

The Aston Martin DBX doesn’t come out until December, but this early, Aston Martin is already curating the image of its new crossover as a lifestyle-oriented SUV that also happens to have a 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged V-8 engine that produces 542 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque. The British automaker is doubling down on that plan with the release of a full range of lifestyle accessories, each of which is based on specific lifestyle needs. All told, Aston Martin created 11 different packages with each package offering something unique to the table. There’s a package catered for off-road adventures. There’s a package catered for the snow. There’s even a package catered for your pets. These packages are as detail-specific as they come, and once the DBX hits the market, you can choose which one suits your personality and lifestyle the best.

Add Aston Martin to the growing list of premium automakers that are set to embark on a journey to the land of crossovers and SUVs. The British automaker’s DBX crossover is scheduled to arrive in December, and now we know that it will carry a 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged V-8 engine that produces an impressive 542 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque. Interestingly, this twin-turbo V-8 unit is the same AMG-sourced powertrain that you’ll see in the DB11 and Vantage. It is, however, been tuned to produce more power, a by-product of Aston Martin wanting to squeeze more power out of the engine for the DBX. This bit of information reveals a great deal about the DBX, specifically in how it stacks up against its rivals in the segment. With that much power at its disposal, it’s safe to say that the Aston Martin DBX won’t have a problem making a name for itself against models like the Porsche Cayenne Turbo, Maserati Levante, Lamborghini Urus, and Bentley Bentayga.

The upcoming Aston Martin DBX, the company’s first ever SUV, could be the world’s first hauler with drifting capability. That’s the word from the company’s senior manager of vehicle dynamics, Ian Hartley, who said that a drift mode for the DBX is totally doable.

Aston Martin’s goal to reinvent itself as a bonafide purveyor of high-end performance cars isn’t slowing down anytime soon. As if the inevitable arrivals of the Valkyrie and Vulcan hypercars aren’t enough, the British automaker is also scheduled to launch the mid-engined Vanquish supercar, complete with…a manual transmission. Oh, yes. People who love to be in control of their supercars on the road can test their driving skills anew once the next-generation Vanquish arrives, presumably around 2022. There’s no word yet on what kind of manual gearbox Aston Martin plans to use on the mid-engined Vanquish, but it’s a manual gearbox nevertheless. That alone is reason enough to get excited about the possibilities, especially when every performance car maker worth its salt has all-but-abandoned the manual transmission in any of their exotics.

Aston Martin may be late to the SUV party but the British automaker is doing everything it can to ensure that the DBX will be a success right out of the box. It’s even opening a brand-new facility that will, at first, focus only on making the DBX before also assembling all of the Lagonda models. The new factory located in Saint Athan, Wales, will eventually employ up to 750 people, most from around the Vale of Glamorgan area.

While production for the DBX will kick-off in earnest in the first half of 2020, Aston Martin used the unveiling of its new plant to also show to the press what has to be the production-ready version of its SUV, albeit covered in red-and-black camouflage. The version we’ve seen testing at the Nordschleife and the Arctic Circle among other places in the past year or so was a prototype but the body we can see on the new mule displayed at Saint Athan is the real deal that people will see in late 2019 when the official launch event will take place.

The Aston Martin DBX will soon become the newest member of a very popular niche, one that was, basically, made popular some 15 years ago when Porsche launched the Cayenne. The luxury and sports car establishment might’ve laughed at the news that Stuttgart’s sports car maker, famed for building the 911 for decades, lost its way and started building SUVs but, soon enough, the market demanded more super-fast and super-luxurious options and Bentley, Maserati, Land Rover, and even Lamborghini answered the call of the masses and came forth with their own SUVs. Ferrari is also expected to entertain its wealthy clientele with a high-riding Prancing Horse named the Purosangue, so Aston Martin’s decision to create the DBX feels normal once you take a step back and look at the whole picture. On top of that, sales of these models are what enable these manufacturers to continue to make sports cars and supercars.

The Aston Martin Rapide E is an all-electric version of the British company’s four-door sedan. Previewed by a concept called the Rapide E in 2016, the production model made its debut three years later at the 2019 Shanghai Auto Show. The Rapide E ditches the familiar 6.0-liter V-12 engine in favor of a battery pack and a pair of electric motors, but it generates notably more power than its gasoline sibling. The Rapide E is also the company’s first electric vehicle.

Finally ready for production after several years of development, the Rapide E brings together the craftsmanship and exclusivity of the Rapide nameplate with zero-emission performance thanks to Aston Martin’s collaboration with Williams Advanced Engineering. The latter provides battery systems for Formula E cars, so it has extensive know-how of high-performance electric drivetrains. Although production of the Rapide E is limited to less than 200 vehicles, it introduces the brand to the all-electric market before Lagonda will take over as a zero-emission luxury brand.

We’re getting closer to the unveiling of what will be one of the prettiest cars of 2019: the Aston Martin DBS GT Zagato. What’s even better is that the front-engined grand tourer won’t come alone as, with it, the 19 buyers will get a painstakingly accurate recreation of the 1960 Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato. Now, we’re getting a peek of how the two will look together.

The Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato, one of the most beautiful Aston Martins ever made and, also, one of the most expensive, is still an object of lust almost 60 years after it was produced. One of them, the example known as ’2VEV’ due to its number plate, sold a few years ago for $13.1 million at auction. The recreation you’re getting along with the DBS GT Zagato, though, won’t cost you $13 million. It won’t even cost you $10 million. In fact, the two can be had - they won’t be sold separately - for the not-so-steep sum of $7.9 million. If you think that’s still too much, then take a look at these renders...