An all-electric Aston Martin with more than 1000 Newton meters of torque and a 0-100 km/h time in the three-second range is the next target for Aston Martin.
With the $2.5 million Vulcan road racer at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, company chief Andy Palmer said that a zero-emission car is vital to Aston’s future.
“You really need a zero. I do believe we’ll be there,” Palmer said. “I see it as a strong possibility. It would be mighty fast to 100 km/h. If you look at a Tesla it’s a pretty elegant car, but an Aston Rapide is more elegant. It’s more than a pipe dream. Do I have a project that’s fully funded and fully signed-off, no we’re not there.”
Aston Martin Vulcan.
Palmer says the Vulcan, which is intended for Aston drivers who want a race-style track car at their disposal, is more than halfway to a sellout of its 24 car production run.
“I’ve got more than half of them sold. I’ve got considerably more than 24 people that the industry calls hot leads.”
Palmer has only recently taken on the top job at Aston Martin but has clear feelings on the brand and what it needs for new-model development, following a deal which allows it to tap into Daimler for technology.
“As long as legislation lets me, and I’m sitting in this seat with a beating heart, we’ll have a V12 engine. With idle stop and cylinder deactivation you can make it work.”
He is also keeping a close eye on development of autonomous self-driving cars. “I quite like the idea of a button that says ‘drift’,” he said.
He also concedes that autonomous driving could be a bonus to Aston Martin, as people split their driving between chores and enjoyment.
“An Aston is a driver’s car and always should be. Almost never is an Aston the only car in the garage. I’m an advocate of the technology. I think Aston won’t be on the leading edge of that technology, although we could be because we take the Daimler electrical architecture. I think we’ll adopt it at the level of convenience. I think self parking is extraordinarily relevant to the brand. It’s extremely interesting.”
As a non-owner of an Aston Martin, to be honest, I do not see any relevance in autonomous cars to Aston Martin, always known as a driver’s car. If you have that amount of money to spend are you going to sit there and let “George”, the automatic pilot, take over? No way, Jose!
By the same token, to say that self parking is relevant to the brand – come on. You can get that technology in a Ford Focus, available in Thailand right now.
