I never really warmed up to the Aston Martin Rapide. Sure, it was fast and capable, because modern Aston Martin doesn’t make crappy cars, but to me it was a bad example of what happens when you try to shoehorn a sedan onto a coupe design. While an electric Rapide may happen, eventually the car will be phased out entirely.
That’s from Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer, speaking to Car and Driver. He said the Rapide will be on the way out in the next few years to make room for another sport sedan named Lagonda — but not the Middle East-only Lagonda Taraf, that’s too expensive to crash test and certify for U.S. road duty. (Thanks, NHTSA.)
In addition to the new Lagonda and Aston’s sports car line, they will make a production version of the DBX Concept, pictured above. The production version will have five doors, including a hatch, and with its raised ride height will be more like a small crossover. FOR THE LADIES, Palmer said:
Palmer declined to give any substantive product details about the new global Lagonda, but he did tell us a bit more about the form the DBX crossover will take in production. It will still feature “a high seating position, making it more accessible, making it less intimidating particularly for female customers. That won’t change. The design will change. The most obvious change will be that it’ll have five doors [including the hatch], not three doors. There’s probably more work to do on the interior. And we’ve got to keep that beauty.
Well, I’m not a lady, but I am a fan of lifted things and I think the DBX is kind of cool. As sacrilegious as an Aston Martin crossover sounds, it stands to have the Cayenne effect on the struggling brand — sales of the DBX will finance more crazy sports cars for the enthusiasts.
I’m okay with all of this. Aston Martin’s gotta keep the lights on somehow.
Contact the author at patrick@jalopnik.com.