Within the age of downsizing, pressured by stricter emissions laws, Aston Martin dares to go in opposition to the tide. The corporate not too long ago introduced a brand new twin-turbo V-12 engine with a colossal 824 horsepower and 738 pound-feet of torque. Why? That is what folks need.
Talking with Automobile Throttle, the corporate’s product technique boss Alex Lengthy says inside research have proven that individuals simply need massive engines. It is so simple as that. In 2024 when tiny three-cylinder 1.0-liter turbocharged engines are prevalent in Europe, Aston Martin reckons that not even a V-6 makes the minimize. Lengthy mentions a “true emotional connection” between drivers and a V-12 or a V-8 {that a} smaller six-cylinder engine can’t ship, or not less than it “does not but.”
After all, the likes of Ferrari, Maserati, and McLaren would beg to vary with their V-6 supercars. Aston Martin itself had deliberate six-cylinder fashions not that a few years in the past. The Valhalla was initially purported to get a twin-turbo V-6 however the British luxurious marque finally determined to go along with AMG’s brawny V-8 as a substitute. The mid-engine Vanquish Imaginative and prescient idea debuted with a V-6 earlier than the corporate pulled the plug in late 2019.
The DBX did get an inline-six just a few years in the past in China with a Mercedes-sourced 3.0-liter engine. Nonetheless, Aston Martin discontinued the smaller engine with the SUV’s current facelift. Going ahead, the Lamborghini Urus rival is obtainable completely in DBX707 taste.
Lengthy believes six-cylinder engines are extra mainstream than a V-8, not to mention a V-12, arguing that smaller powertrains “very a lot aren’t within the premium section.”
Aston Martin had deliberate to go fully electrical by the top of the last decade. Nonetheless, the Gaydon-based marque has reversed course and can proceed to make vehicles with combustion engines effectively into the 2030s. Firm boss Lawrence Stroll informed Autocar earlier this yr that prospects need “sounds and smells” coming from ICE. Plug-in hybrids are coming since AM is not resistant to more and more harder laws concerning emissions requirements.
