Aston Martin DBX revealed

When the Aston Martin DBX SUV is revealed in late 2019, expect it to look a lot like the pearly-white machine in this rendering.

The creative types at Automedia have digitally peeled off the complex camouflage from the Aston Martin DBX prototypes already (officially) revealed, showing a burly V8 bruiser that is at once unmistakably Aston while avoiding some of the visual hazards that have previously befallen high-end SUVs (read: Bentley Bentayga).

With sales of the all-new British luxury SUV tipped to start in the second quarter of 2020, after Aston Martin's new factory in Wales switches on early next year, it will double the brand's production capacity from 7000 to 14,000 vehicles per annum.

A crucial vehicle for the brand's future growth, the first Aston Martin SUV must deliver broad-spectrum visual appeal, and if this rendering is anything to go by, the brand could be onto a winner.

Sporting Aston Martin's signature snout – bold grille, slim headlights, bonnet bulge and vents – this DBX render also shows off a decently raked windscreen, adding a touch of athleticism to the design.

The DBX's elevated ride height doesn't detract too much from the sporty aesthetic, thanks to its curvaceous lines and lack of conventional SUV design cues, such as contrasting wheel-arch extensions seen on models like the Lamborghini Urus.

Ironically, the Aston Martin DBX is expected to be a fairly handy mud-slinger, as the recent prototype testing on a Welsh rally stage earlier in the year proved.

The Aston Martin DBX will join the brand’s predominantly sports car range, comprising the Vantage, DB11, DBS, Vanquish, Rapide, Valkyrie hypercar and 003 baby brother.

The brand is also prepping its first mid-engined production series sports car, the Vanquish Vision, for 2022.

After being in close proximity to several camouflaged Aston Martin DBX prototypes this month, carsales.com.au can report that its engine is almost certainly the same 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 from the Vantage.

Supplied by Mercedes-AMG, the turbocharged bent-eight will deliver at least 375kW of power and 685Nm of torque – and it sounds very aggressive at full noise, according to the carsales snoop.

Even if the DBX is a chubby customer, the V8 will have enough gristle to propel its tubby weight to 100km/h very swiftly – thanks in part to its all-wheel drive set-up.

Aston Martin is expected to offer hybrid versions of the lithe new SUV in due course and it may even add its silken sledgehammer – the twin-turbo V12 – to the mix, especially if rivals such as the Ferrari Purosangue decide to go the tonk with 12 cylinders.

Aston Martin has a lot riding on the new DBX, for which a new manufacturing facility in St Athan has been created.

With the likes of Lamborghini, Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Porsche, Maserati and now Ferrari offering their own lucrative high-performance luxury SUV lines, Aston Martin is banking on hefty returns after injecting huge amounts of capital into its new Welsh production facility, which has also been dubbed its 'Home of Electrification'.

Even before the DBX arrives, Aston sales are up globally and in Australia, the brand shifting 6441 cars in 2018. Its plan to double sales to around 14,000 vehicles over the coming years will see the Welsh plant build not only DBX models, but also a pair of Rolls-Royce-rivalling luxo-cruisers bearing Lagonda badges -- first an SUV then a sedan.

First media drives of prototype Aston Martin DBX vehicles are expected to take place around October, followed by the global premiere of the production version in late 2019. Sales of the DBX will commence from around May 2020, but pricing has not been confirmed.