Aston Martin’s DBS successor will feature a brand new V-12 engine since it’s what its customers want, Alex Long, the automaker’s head of product and marketing strategy, said in a recent interview with CarThrottle.
The engine was recently confirmed by Aston Martin to be a newly developed version of the present twin-turbocharged 5.2-liter V-12, and carry an 824-hp output within the DBS successor, a automobile tipped to revive the Vanquish nameplate.
Big engines aren’t really essential anymore for performance. Aston Martin currently races in Formula 1 with turbocharged V-6 hybrid powertrains, and each the Ferrari 296 GTB and McLaren Artura supercars use twin-turbocharged V-6 engines as a part of their respective plug-in hybrid powertrains. But customers on this high-end segment also want emotion, and that requires more cylinders, Long argued.
“It isn’t nearly going as fast as I can,” Long said. “I do want some emotion on the way in which, I need some real sound and rumble, and I need to know and think and say it is a V-8 or a V-12 because V-8s [and] V-12s have generally been reserved for very special and interesting products whereas V-6s very much aren’t within the premium segment.”
Aston Martin DB12
Long also noted that, because the pandemic, there was “an actual resurgence for V-8,” partially due to use case of Aston’s wealthy customers. An Aston Martin typically is not the only automobile in a household, Long said, explaining that customers may even have an EV for more regular use, keeping the V-8 automobile around for its “sound, noise, vibration, and so forth.”
Stricter emissions standards are causing even high-end brands to take a better take a look at electrification and smaller engines, but Long is not the only executive that is hesitant about this trend. Lamborghini will launch its first EV in 2028, nevertheless it won’t be one in every of the brand’s traditional supercars because, CEO Stephan Winkelmann has said, demand for electric supercars stays nascent.
Even Mate Rimac, founder and CEO of electrical hypercar builder Rimac, sees a future for large engines. As head of the parent company of each Rimac and Bugatti, he’s currently overseeing the launch of a Bugatti Chiron successor with a V-16 hybrid powertrain. And he’s said Rimac’s future lies in groundbreaking tech—not EVs alone.
This Article First Appeared At www.motorauthority.com
