ah there is it was only a matter of time
wasn't it before Aston Martin followed
suit with the Bentley been tiger
the Lamborghini Eurus and the Porsche
Cayenne Turbo with the super SUV of its
own and here it is the Aston Martin DBS
if you follow the financial news you
know Aston stock value has been falling
since its IPO a year ago
so the dbx isn't just another new Aston
it's a potential lifeline for the
company which is why it's pulled out all
the stops it's based on a new platform
offered initially with a more powerful
version of the Vantage's 4 litre
twin-turbo AMG sourced v8 and the first
car to be built in Astin's brand new
factory in sin effin Wales failure here
isn't really an option
Wellcome to all the technical details in
a minute but first let's catch up with
Myles Nurnberger Ashton's director of
design to run a fine comb through the
styling miles thanks for joining us and
this slightly bond-esque location we've
got up here isn't it it's great place
very very nice it's not like any studio
I've ever been to
anyway the dbx how important is this car
Aston Martin is it too much to say this
is the car that the company's future
rests on its shoulders in terms of
growth absolutely is a very important
car it's car for in our second century
plan so first of all DB 11 advantages in
DBS and of course it's significant
because actually it's the first time we
go into this sector again it's not the
first time obviously that Aston has
flirted with the idea of an SUV there
was a 2009 lagonda concert famously
didn't go down very well with him with
the media and the public there any
lessons learned from that concept that
you've been able to apply here well I
think it was very different it was done
for lagonda it was done at a different
time when we've come at this one it's
been with a clean sheet of paper I think
we started from the ground up which we
were fairly young in those days we've
grown up a lot and understood our brand
a lot more
where to take it so but may I be so bold
as to say off the bat it's a beautiful
thing recognizably an Aston Martin I
know that was bad to lagonda this is
nasty
but just talk a bit about the challenge
of turning the Aston Martin design
language you've worked so hard to sort
of some men into something that doesn't
actually sit next to a front-engine GT I
think I think we were convinced for a
while that you could interpret a sin DNA
into it we knew in actual fact that
probably we needed the practicality you
know if you if you go into the SUV
market today there is just I mean I've I
show you the side of the car I don't
have to explain what you get you know
and that's really important for the
customer what they get on top of it
though is they get beautiful proportion
and starts and all those things which is
a nice little segue isn't it because
we're here to talk about this car so
without further ado why don't we just go
through it you talk through the design
will start the front we'll work our way
to the back imagine I know nothing I
have a set of eyes
I mean grille is the place to start yes
demand grille so very much
recognizable this car is a dbx and it
was the classic DB grille that you
should instantly recognize from you know
iconic db5 bigger than much bigger
actually probably the largest grille
we've ever put on a DB if if anything
properly and I think it's about the size
of a 177 grille we've got the DRL lamps
either side and again arrow we started
all of this at a adventure with arrow
Aston Martin with DB 11 and it comes
through all the cars so actually within
the lamp is actually a duck so you get
an air an air blade basically running
around there you know we're able to get
this sculpture and almost this you know
horizontal surface off the wheel arts
instead of coming out like a wall we can
cut across the car and get all that
sculpt this one thing I actually notice
because a lot of these sort of supersu
visas we're nicknamed them have these
really quite bulky front end so when you
put the dimensions with these kind of
boxy shapes around the front and rear
then it can get a bit heavy with
fieldsports cars with actually more
metal above their wheels than then our
SUV does
which is quite amazing you were talking
about this this being compact so not as
much method as some sports cars about
there but there was quite a bit of ride
height here so you haven't you could
have I know that this has got air
suspension on it yeah you can go up and
down it's quite interesting you get a
you know lower you get there's a certain
sporty nurse how you get off Sears or
Freight but there's a moment in between
we get as beautiful elegant float and we
actually it partly goes with this line
here that we have that runs front to
back which we call the powerboat line a
constantly falling line and along with
the you know the clearance to the ground
gives this very elegant
of course Aston Martin actually does
make about these data seamless and just
back to the wheel arch again I noticed
these are 22 so I'd say 22 is standard
standard there's two wheel styles so
this is the standard and then there's an
option silence the other thing I was
noticing was the glass so my eyes
deceiving me I was this old flush and
seamless whereas normally you've got
sort reading pillars yeah so we went to
a lot of effort so we have glass the
glass all the way through so this this
the B post is actually a pane of glass
also I mean it's it's about reducing
clutter and putting the emphasis on the
right thing so obviously what the
emphases on this nice piece of aluminium
brightwork I see the bottom of all the
seals are actually hidden underneath the
edge of it or so you go straight from
metal to glass without a big finish okay
if we follow this C pillar round you've
got the roof spoiler up there it appears
all to be leading to this ducktail
spoiler more than the hint of Vantage
about that absolutely I mean it's an SUV
but it's an SUV with a very big capital
S for sports and our sports car the car
we raise his Vantage and very
unashamedly we've taken that and put it
onto the back of the car to give that
very unique identity to go in profile
and in rear view the duck tail when
you're on Iran advantage it's got a nice
clean airflow on an SUV normally it
doesn't which is why we have these two
holes either side to actually feed
energize the flow to the to the duck
tail but that also keeps the rear screen
perfectly clear you get a lot of
circulation on the back of SUVs and
because of the hard cutoff here and the
air flow down there it keeps the really
bad type of real work
nope and I like these carbon fiber
finishes yes yeah so these are an option
and this sort of perforated things
something else you see in the Vantage as
well so alright let's have a look at the
interior you go and you hop in the
passenger seat I'm driving okay yeah
alright now I read somewhere that it
took you six months to decide the exact
position of the driver's seat what on
earth - longer than that we did a huge
amount of testing basically because we
were going to sector and you know you've
got to have the practicalities you've
got to be able to get in and out but
also in a minute you get in it and sit
in it it has to feel like an Aston
Martin
we were insistent to go that right we
couldn't get to the end and go quietly
so you are closeted I feel cause Sid but
you've got space across the dashboard
you feel like you've got that you've got
all this nice storage below you I was
gonna say so this floating center
console that's pretty much of a Dogma
here right so you get the you get the
raised center console you feel these you
get this kind of cockpit feel but then
you've got all this space under here
yeah these are quite sporty seats as
well are they DB 11 related they are
very much deeper than related and again
that's where our sports car learning
came in we've got a seat we've already
designed that's good GT sporting long
distance C so why not use it again why
not use it in an SUV great and there's
some amazing materials in here it smells
amazing I've just said before we turn
the camera on that I love this coloured
what's that a heart attack just so I
know when I wouldn't
it's a horror tan but also Alcantara
headlining yeah Alcantara for the for
the whole line I mean that was again
what I push to get like an leather
speakers you know solo the perforation
so in fact we're getting a bit like on
the outside where we reducing detail but
actually adding some graft into it so
we're actually using leather for the
speaker grille patterns to get this more
seamless approach throughout the car
reduce the number of straight lines and
create a beautiful bit of graft and of
course we've got our driving modes down
here so you get sports ball plus GT
yeah but hill descent control because
an SUV right and a couple of modes I was
reading about terrain and terrain Plus
who in their right mind is going to take
their Aston Martin on 22-inch wheels
off-road you gotta be a madman right
well there will be some there will be
some but I think you know with all the
SUVs it's that ability what you're after
is the ability to escape to go where you
want to and have that freedom right so
that's the design but the way this thing
drives is just as crucial to do justice
to that Aston badge how then have Aston
set this car up to cope with 542 brake
horsepower and 516 pounds feet of
rampant of the eight capable of not 62
and 4.5 seconds and a top speed of 181
miles an hour the first thing is an
all-new bonded aluminium platform which
is the same technique that Aston uses on
its sports cars
the advantages of that are it's very
stiff and quite light this car weighs
2245 kilograms which is about 45
kilograms more than a Lamborghini but up
to 150 kilograms less than a Bentley van
tiger with a v8 engine the other thing
to mention is that although Aston won't
confirm that an all-electric dbx is
coming this platform can be fitted with
batteries and motors somewhere down the
line the brakes are steel not carbon
ceramic and there's air suspension as
standard which can raise the car 45
millimetres in terrain and terrain plus
modes will lower it by 50 millimetres in
sport and sport plus 30 millimetres at
motorway speeds and up to 50 millimetres
lower in access mode to help you get in
and out and for loading the boot and
just like the vent a grand us
there's adaptive dampers and a 48 volt
anti-roll system you should keep this
car unnaturally flat in corners all that
power is sent to the wheels of our and 9
speed automatic gearbox and a full wheel
drive system that sends about 53% of the
talk to the rear axle in normal running
but can send almost a hundred percent of
the power to the rear axle when required
if you've seen a video of a prototype of
this car tearing up a Welsh rally stage
you'll know it's not shy of going
sideways and the switchboard exhaust
on exactly mute now because the dvx is a
car where uber luxury supposedly meets
active lifestyles there's a couple of
cool features I wanted to show you if
you're prepared to sacrifice your spare
wheel then under the boot floor here you
can have a fully waterproof wet bag
that's where you throw your wellies and
your wet suits and your waders and then
you simply close the boot and you're
back to leather lined luxury you leave
the dirt and the damp behind you and the
other ones around here when you're
getting in the back door even if the
rest of the car is caked in grime and
mud this sill section here will be nice
and clean and dry so you don't get dirt
on your Italian chinos Astin knows not
many of its customers will want to Fang
their dbx around on a rally stage a much
more lucrative strategy is to sell this
car on its lifestyle benefits hence 11
optional accessory packs these include a
snow pack with a ski bag roof-mounted
ski rack and snow chains a Touring pack
with a full-piece luggage set and saddle
bags for the rear armrest a pet pack
with a bumper protector dog partition
and portable washer for muddy paws and
even an aluminium gun cabinet or picnic
hamper prices for the dbx start from
around 155 grams actually isn't that
shocking when you consider the 265 brand
rolls-royce Cullinan exists and the spec
sheet on this car is pretty hard to
fault actually from the huge performance
to the physics-defying chassis aids my
concern is that unlike a few years ago
the competition for the dbx is now
numerous and really quite strong is the
super SUV market already oversaturated
for Aston sake I hope not
you
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