The Future of Aston Martin

Aston Martin was established way back in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. The brand gained world wide recognition when David Brown took control over the company and started producing the DB series of cars, notably the DB5 which was in the James Bond film "Goldfinger". When David Brown left in the 1970s the brand fell on some hard times and was eventually bought out by Ford. In March 2007 Ford ended up selling Aston Martin to some of the brands devotees who have kept the brand afloat ever since.

Now however Aston Martin has its eyes set on some big goals with the release of the DBX and some big changes in their line up. Aston Martin expects their first SUV (the DBX) to boost their sales by two thirds which will be much needed after a share-price drop of 75% last year (according to Reuters) due to a decrease in demand for the Vantage.

Its been estimated that one third of all car sales next year will be in the SUV class, which means that the market is there for the DBX to boost the sales for Aston Martin just like the Cayenne did for Porsche. However Aston might face the a market that is already over saturated with super SUVs. The DBX does have some features to help it stand out amongst the competition such as the craftsmanship of leather speaker covers, multiple lifestyle options such as ski and dog packages to cater for their clients every needs and a 0-100 time of just 4.5 seconds.

Aston Martin has been working on their halo car, the Valkyrie, for a few years now. The Valkyrie is a limited production hybrid that comes with a V12 with redline of 11,000 and makes 1130hp and weighs only 1030kg. The technology and engineering behind the Valkyrie is now getting filtered down to other Aston Martins, with the Valhalla getting almost the full treatment of the Valkyrie. The Valhalla is getting a F1inspired turbocharged V-6 with a hybrid system (not a plug in system), with an estimated power output of 1000hp, although this still needs to be confirmed .

The Vanquish is the first car in Aston's normal lineup to get the Valkyrie treatment as it features a similar design and is mid engined. This new Vanquish is Aston Martin's answer to all the mid-engined super-cars like the Ferrari 488 and McLaren 720s. The Vanquish will also feature the same design language as the Valkyrie with its futuristic and ultra aerodynamic look, which will help this car gain a lot of attention and stand out from its competition.

These changes that Aston Martin are making are huge, however they are necessary changes to keep this 106 year old company alive and relevant in the ever changing car scene. Time will tell if Aston Martin made the right choices to keep the company afloat or if history will repeat itself and the company will go under again.