Aston Martin is planning to join the mainstream supercar field with a new V8-powered mid-engine supercar to rival the likes of the Ferrari 488 GTB, Lamborghini Huracan, Audi R8, and McLaren 570. The new car, if properly executed, has the potential to open the British sports car maker up to a whole new stream of customers and become their most popular model.
With the launch of the newest DB model, Aston Martin and their DB11 have been stealing headlines with the glowing reviews coming from the first drives, previewing a successful car to kick off the British automaker’s financial comeback.
You see, for the entire span of Aston Martin’s existence, only a small percentage of which were enjoyed in profitability – and current CEO Andy Palmer’s ambitious product roadmap is planned to fix that, resulting in a new model release each year until 2022. That’s a frequency and volume that they have not attempted before and being a purveyor of handmade vehicles isn’t helping their case.
Speaking to Autocar UK, the upcoming mid-engine car will be the final model released in their firestorm period between now and 2022. After which, the model cycle defined in that 6-year period will be turned over with new generations introduced in the same order.
Another mid-engine car that Aston Martin announced was their joint effort with Red Bull Racing, the AM-RB 001, penned and developed under F1 vehicle designer Andrian Newey. Marek Reichman, however, says that the project will inform certain aspects of the new mid-engine model, likely to be powered by the same AMG-sourced V8 that will find its way into the next Vantage.
“All car designers want to design a mid-engined supercar. It’s why you become a designer,” he says.
The car will also feature short overhangs, a lower nose and a smaller frontal area than what we currently see from Aston Martins, Reichman added. Of course, these are all traits that are rather standard fare for a mid-engine supercar.
We got an earlier glimpse of Aston’s interpretation of a mid-engine supercar when they released their DP-100 Vision Gran Turismo concept at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. The car was designed to be featured in the Gran Turismo 6 video game and also spawned a full size 3D show car, giving some very positive reinforcement that the marque’s prowess for front-engine GT cars translates well no matter the engine placement and layout.
During the release of the DP-100, Reichman did allude to this very scenario, saying: “Many of the design cues visible on DP-100 could feed into future sports cars we’ll launch in the offline world.”
Either way, we’ll have to wait a few more years until Aston Martin properly fleshes out more elements of their upcoming mid-engine supercar contender. In the nearer term, however, they and collaborators Red Bull Racing are promising great things from their hybrid V12-powered AM-RB 001 project.
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