Aston Martin Confirms $305 Million Investment to Build DBX Crossover
Company's first-ever crossover headed to production.
Jake HolmesWriter
Aston Martin Confirms $305 Million Investment to Build DBX Crossover
Company's first-ever crossover headed to production.
Jake HolmesWriter
Aston Martin announced that it is spending $305 million to launch its DBX crossover, confirming that the stylish four-seater will head to production. The "luxury GT crossover" was shown as a concept at the Geneva auto show and is intended to help Aston Martin lure more customers to its showrooms.
"The DBX concept has generated interest far beyond our expectations," Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer said in a statement. "The additional investment announced today will allow us to realize the DBX and other new luxury vehicles that will form the strongest and most diverse portfolio in our history."
The Aston Martin DBX concept is a luxurious crossover fitted with an all-electric powertrain and advanced features like carbon-ceramic brakes, drive-by-wire steering, and dual head-up displays. The 2+2 interior is said to have enough space to fit four adults comfortably, and is finished with aluminum, leather, and LED lighting. It remains unclear which, if any, of those features will make it to production.
At the Geneva auto show, Aston Martin CEO Palmer toldAUTOMOBILE that adding a crossover like the DBX could increase the company's annual sales from about 4,500 units globally to more like 7,000 cars.
"Add the DBX, which is looking to get to new customers; it's probably a younger customer, a female customer, an Asian customer, basically where we haven't been before," Palmer said.
Palmer also confirmed that Aston Martin is interested in building electric cars, signaling that the DBX and a version of the Rapide sedan could hit the market with battery power: "Unless you have something to offset the emissions, you can't have a V-12 anymore because you can't meet the [fuel-economy regulations]. So there's a compliance reason for doing it. But the fact that you can get hypothetically 1,000 hp, instantaneous torque, and silence, that's probably [just] as exhilarating [in its own way]."
Aston Martin is also working on a successor to the DB9, which will likely be called the DB11 and could offer a turbocharged V-12 engine.
