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John Mahoney28 May 2015
NEWS

Aston Martin: Hybrids and electric vehicles inevitable

British car-maker says hybrids and electric vehicles, not downsizing, is Aston’s future

Aston Martin has announced that electric and hybrid-powered vehicles will be key to a cleaner future for the sports-car maker. The iconic manufacturer will also aim to increase its line-up by up to seven different models to boost sales.

In a recent interview with British car magazine Autocar, Aston boss Andy Palmer confirmed both pure-electric and hybrid powertrains were the preferred option to increasing efficiency without sacrificing performance.

“As time evolves, there’s probably an inevitability to hybridisation, simply because car by car, you can only downsize so much, I’d rather put a hybrid in there than an in-line four cylinder.” Said Palmer, adding: “Power, Beauty, Soul doesn’t say it has to be a gasoline engine. It just needs to be really powerful, beautiful and set your heart on fire.”

Aston’s boss also confirmed both the V12 and V8 were expected to live on in the range and the line-up would “cover all bases” from the Vulcan hypercar to the new, forthcoming DBX SUV.

Despite committing to hybrid power for the future, Palmer says, there are no actual immediate plans to introduce a hybrid. The British CEO also went on to say Aston’s current sales of 7000 units per year were no longer sustainable and “doesn’t work as a business model.”

In the revealing interview Palmer said he thought the new DBX and Lagonda were “part of the solution” but worried Aston Martin lacked the multi-billion dollars needed to develop its own autonomous driving and active-safety features some are developing, but said the firm's tie-up with Daimler could prove a solution.

“You either buy them or belong to a group that owns them. We don’t want to belong to a group that owns them, so therefore we have to buy them. However, the strategic relationship and five per cent ownership with Daimler gives us access to that technology. It works for Daimler and it works for us.”

The fruit of that partnership is also the DB9-replacing DB11 that's due next year. Instead of using the firm's exisiting 6.0-litre V12, it will be the first Aston Martin to gain Mercedes-AMG's 375kW/650Nm 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8.

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