Bold claims from Aston’s largely-dormant luxury marque.
We’re rather confused on how to refer to this, the Lagonda Vision Concept. On the one hand, we know that Lagonda is a standalone brand under the Aston Martin umbrella. But on the other, Aston Martin themselves say that they “are proud to present the Lagonda Vision Concept.” Someone needs to draw a line between these two.
Anyway. More than just a new car, the Lagonda Vision Concept serves as the spearhead for the ‘reinvented’ Lagonda brand, in terms of its ethos, its design language, and its goals. Lagonda also claims that the Vision Concept marries ‘luxury’ and ‘modernity’ for the first time in history. Again, they claim.
"We believe people associate luxury in their cars with a certain traditional and even old-fashioned approach because, to date, that is all that’s been available to them. Lagonda exists to challenge that thinking and prove that being modern and luxurious are not mutually-exclusive concepts." – Dr. Andy Palmer, Chief Executive, Aston Martin
We’re not sure about you, but stepping into any of the latest Rolls-Royce, Range Rover, or Jaguar offerings, we most certainly didn’t feel like we’d stepped back in time and everything was in sepia…
The Vision Concept is being billed as a “near future study” for the design language that will eventually become trademarks of the Lagonda brand. Credit where credit’s due, the Vision Concept looks unlike anything we’ve ever seen before, with a striking wedge-shape and a very contemporary interpretation of the ‘fastback’ or ‘shooting brake’ profile. The front is crowned with the new ‘Lagonda’ badge with a stylised O (which is actually rather nice), while that element is framed by a large, golden element that brings to mind the elegant Lagonda Taraf limousine that the company has been making for a while now.
Lagonda, like every other electric carmaker, says that utilising the electric powertrain has liberated designers and engineers to go to town with the packaging of the Vision Concept. They’ve also taken the opportunity to take a potshot at Rolls-Royce:
“Lagonda has no need to occupy a huge amount of road space or make an ostentatious wealth statement. It’s like comparing Concorde to the first-class cabin of a conventional airliner. By ditching traditional architecture like Parthenon grilles and massive frontal areas, and by using electrical power, Lagonda design can still be distinctive and luxurious without being grandiose. It offers customers a thoroughly modern, emission-free form of super-luxurious mobility.” — Marek Reichman, Executive Vice President, Aston Martin
The cabin of the Vision Concept also intends to reimagine the traditional pillars of luxury and opulence, and maximises what’s on offer thanks to that electrified powertrain. With the batteries mounted in the floor and an immensely-rigid structure, the Lagonda Vision Concept’s cabin is spared things like B-pillars and has reduced ‘clutter’ by moving the mounts of the front seats to the outmost edge, freeing up floor space. The front seats can also rotate to face the rear, as the Lagonda Vision Concept (predictably) has Level 4 driving autonomy built-in.
Alongside the Vision Concept, Lagonda will be displaying two 40% scale models of an SUV concept and a coupe concept, displaying how the design language shown in the Vision Concept can be adapted to different bodystyles. The Lagonda Vision Concept will emerge in 2021 as a full production model, with the SUV and coupe likely to follow shortly afterwards.
Lagonda has high hopes for itself as a brand that will occupy the ultra-luxury space on the market, as summed up by CEO Dr. Palmer’s parting words:
“The car has been the greatest liberating force humankind has invented, and at the time, the journey was as important as the destination. All that has been lost over the last 100 years. Whenever you are in a Lagonda, whatever the journey and whichever seat you occupy, it will reintroduce you to the wonder of travel.” — Dr. Andy Palmer, Chief Executive, Aston Martin
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