Aston pours cold water on sixes

Aston Martin is in no hurry to build six-cylinder versions of its new models. That’s the news from the horse’s mouth, senior engineering executive, Matt Becker.

Speaking at last week’s launch of the new 2018 Aston Martin Vantage Becker, Aston Martin’s Chief Engineer, Vehicle Attribute Engineering, effectively took the blame for stories circulating that a new generation of Aston Martin inline sixes was set to emerge.

“I fear that may have come out of one of my answers [to a journalist’s question] at Geneva [motor show],” Becker told motoring.com.au at the Portugal launch of the Vantage.

“I was speaking in more general terms that we might have to one day look at downsizing engines,” he said.

Mercedes-AMG released its first inline six-cylinder model in decades at Geneva in the shape of the CLS 53 AMG. The four-door coupe features a fettled version of Mercedes new M256 3.0-litre inline six.

Aston Martin has a formal alignment with Daimler and through it AMG. It currently uses mildly re-engineered versions of AMG’s hot-vee 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 in its DB11 and Vantage models.

Becker told motoring.com.au that he recently tested the new ‘53’ six but that evaluation was routine and not related to any new Aston models. The man who signs off the dynamics of every new Aston, he intimated someone may have added two and two together and got five.

“To be honest I don’t know whether the engine would fit [in our cars],” he said.

The new Aston Martin Vantage gets a 375kW/685Nm version of the biturbo V8.

It is the second model range to be developed under the British marque’s Second Century product plan but Aston has revealed only a single variant at this stage. The company is expected to eventually launch S and AMR versions of the car to match the ranges offered by its competitors, like Porsche’s 911 and AMG’s own GT.