Aston Martin’s rival to Porsche’s 911 will début at the Detroit Motor Show in January, more than 18 months before the R1,04 million two-seater goes into production.
Aston Martin’s rival to Porsche’s 911 will début at the Detroit Motor Show in January, more than 18 months before the R1,04 million two-seater goes into production.
The car has a mid-mounted V8 engine and rear-wheel drive. Ford expects the car will be the biggest-selling model in the history of Aston Martin and its executives hope that by showing it at Detroit, the baby Aston Martin will generate interest among wealthy young professionals in America.
Aston Martin boss, former BMW and Porsche executive Ulrich Bez, said the V8 model – known only by its codename AM305 – would use technology from the Vanquish. Company sources say he’s still deciding what to call the two-door coupé – which will later appear as a convertible – but the DB5 name won’t be revived.
The AM305 was designed by Ian Callum (before he left to join the Jaguar styling team).
The concept for AM305 is for a "pure sportscar" in the vein of a Porsche 911, not a luxury grand tourer in the vein of Aston’s DB7 and Vanquish.
The two-seater’s interior is styled by chief designer Henrik Fisker, who also did work on the BMW Z8. The interior is rumoured to be uncompromisingly sportscar-like – thus it is unlikely to sport posh wood or chrome finishes.
CARtoday.com featured details of the AM305 in April. The car has a lightweight aluminium body, with alloy and composite-fibre chassis sections.
Aston insiders say that, in what is a bit of a break with tradition, the car will not share its platform with any other PAG product.
Some quarters have suggested that the AM305 will get a tuned version of the Jaguar 4,4-litre V8. However, the car is more likely to have a different all-new alloy V8 made by Ford, which will then be tuned by Aston engineers for unique characteristics.
This engine will be teamed with a sequential-shift semi-automatic gearbox, controlled by steering wheel-mounted paddles. This transmission may be a rear-mounted transaxle unit rather than being bolted to the engine, to give optimal weight distribution.
AM305 will be manufactured at Aston’s new plant in Gaydon. The company is aiming to build 3 500 to 5 000 of its models annually over the next five years, and up to half of this volume will be accounted for by AM305.
At the Los Angeles Motor Show, just before Detroit, Aston will display a lightweight V12 Speedster DB7, with twin cowlings behind the driver and passenger. A production run of 50 to 100 is planned, reported.
