Throughout Aston Martin’s history, their V12 grand tourers are a relatively recent addition compared to cars fitted with a V8 or inline-6. Despite this, its the powertrain configuration that the British manufacturer are most presently known for.
Currently, if you want a high performance twelve-cylinder grand touring supercar, your choices are down to either an Aston or a Ferrari, though the latter and its Italian neighbours Lamborghini, have acknowledged the pressures to adopt more fuel-efficient and emissions-friendly alternatives.
At the recent Shanghai Motor Show, the Gaydon-based marque unveiled their long-gestating Rapide E, a four-door super saloon with its V12 petrol swapped out for an electric motor and a lot of lithium ion cells. However, packaging constraints have limited its ultimate capacity, and thusly its range is quoted as ‘just’ 320km per charge.
That it became a production model might alarm some AML purists, but the reason why they even exist is to offset the carbon footprint generated by the rest of the petrol-powered beasts. Top Gear recently spoke to Mark Reichman, Aston Martin’s head of design.
“It gets harder and harder to meet emissions, obviously,” he conceded. “But I think we have the capability to keep V12 engines going within the business. We’ve just got to be very aware of the compliance and the emissions rules that will come out in the future.
As a pre-emptive measure to keep the emissions watchdogs at bay, Aston Martin have already taken its mainstream large grand touring coupe, the DB11, to an all-turbocharged range consisting of a 5.2-litre twin-turbo V12 and the M178 4.0-litre bi-turbo V8 sourced from AMG and shared with the new Vantage.
There’s even talk of the company’s upcoming sports SUV model to be debuting an all-new engine into the fold: an six-cylinder turbocharged petrol sourced (again) from Affalterbach or elsewhere in the Benz range.
However, while the V12 has etched into the collective impression of the Aston Martin experience, the advent of the Rapide E does signal Aston’s warming to electrification, possibly portending hybridisation in their cars in the near future, a similar strategy that Lamborghini is having to adopt somewhat reluctantly for the same reasons of keeping their own V12 engine cars alive for as long as possible.
With their Valkyrie hypercar co-developed with Red Bull Racing, the company is making a statement that at once embraces hybrid technology and is a brash affirmation of their loyalty to internal combustion. The naturally aspirated 6.5-litre V12 in that is built by Cosworth and is able to rev to an astonishing 11,000rpm (emissions be damned), for a ICE-only output north of 1,000 horsepower, or 745kW.
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