- seven-seat and coupe versions of the new aston martin dbx suv are now under active consideration.
- there's also a plan for an aston martin racing (amr) version that will improve performance.
- although delayed, deliveries of the company's first suv are finally set to begin soon.
aston martin has been having a tough time recently between the fight to secure its financial future and the departure of ceo andy palmer, who will be replaced later this year by amg's tobias moers.
but while the covid-19 crisis has delayed the formal launch of the aston dbx, the company is already working on future variants of its first suv, based in large part on the strong response that the vehicle has already enjoyed.
writing in the company’s q1 financial report, executive chairman (and significant shareholder) lawrence stroll wrote, "i am extremely pleased that dbx remains on track for deliveries in the summer and has a strong order book behind it extending into 2021. based on these successful initial orders for dbx, we plan to unveil future derivatives starting from 2021.”
based on previous conversations with company insiders, we expect one of those to be a higher-performance derivative likely to carry the amr branding that aston reserves for its punchier models. we believe that this is the car the company will use to attempt to set a new nürburgring nordschleife suv lap record. but beyond that, it seems likely that aston will introduce more radically different versions of the dbx—most likely either an extended seven-seat version or one of the increasingly popular lowered suv/coupe variants.
speaking to australian publication goauto in march, aston design boss marek reichmann admitted that consideration was being given to creating variants, although he effectively ruled out a smaller model sized against the porsche macan. bentley already offers a seven-seat version of the bentayga, although only with part-time seats stowed beneath the trunk floor. the rendering above makes clear that the dbx's elegant lines would be well suited to a modest extension that would significantly improve the aston's practicality without sacrificing its good looks, and would also make it much more useful than the cramped lamborghini urus. alternatively, aston could choose to follow the example set by the porsche cayenne coupe, mercedes gle coupe, and bmw x6 by producing a version of the dbx with a lowered roofline.
beyond the possibility of physically altered variants, we already know the dbx will evolve significantly over the next few years. back in march, now former ceo andy palmer told us that the new hybridized v-6 that aston is developing will ultimately be used to replace the amg-sourced 4.0-liter v-8 that the dbx will have at launch. we can also expect to see a plug-in-hybrid variant, either using the v-6 with more electrification or a different powerplant sourced elsewhere, during the lifetime of the current dbx.