A fresh report out of Europe suggests that Aston Martin is considering dropping Mercedes-AMG’s 3,0-litre straight-six engine (as seen in the new CLS53) into its new Vantage. Should this happen, it will be the first time an Aston features a six-cylinder engine since the DB7 of 1998.
Aston Martin’s chief engineer Matt Becker revealed to wheels.com.au that he had already sampled the CLS53 in Stuttgart a few months ago, and came away impressed.
“With emissions regulations going where they’re going and getting harder and harder, we have to consider all powertrain options, and we are considering six-cylinders for the future,” he told the Australian publication.
“Previous Astons have had six cylinders – a long time ago – but I think with CLS 53, the engine that has is a very complicated and clever engine and it’s something that could fit with the brand in the future.”
According to Becker, the engine bay of the Vantage is large enough to fit a V12 so an inline-six shouldn’t be an issue in terms of packaging. The real challenge comes with the calibration of the mill.
“We would not necessarily play with the power and torque curves. Mercedes develop those to a point that we have to adhere to. Ours is more about the calibration of throttle travel relative to acceleration, and calibration of the engine to suit our mass and gear ratios, all of that has to be tuned.”
Becker also pointed out that Aston Martin makes use of a ZF-sourced eight-speed automatic rather than the seven-speed dual-clutch employed by Affalterbach.
Daimler, the German multinational that owns Mercedes-Benz, currently holds a five percent stake in the British automaker, with Mercedes-AMG and Aston Martin having entered a technical partnership back in 2013. Both the new Vantage and the entry-level version of the DB11 employ AMG’s 4,0-litre twin-turbocharged V8 engine.
