Aston Martin Will Produce V12 Sports Cars for a Few More Years

Night may be falling on Aston Martin’s V12s, but that just means we’re in for a spectacular sunset.

byJames Gilboy|
Aston Martin News photo
Share

0

Sorry to be the bearer of harsh news, but there are replacements for displacement; they're called boost pressure and hybrid power. They're part of why the 4.0-liter AMG V8-powered 2023 Aston Martin DBX 707 is one-tenth quicker from zero to 60 than the similarly powerful, 5.2-liter V12-powered DBS. It's also why the Valhalla supercar ended up with V8 instead of Aston's V12. Still, Aston's not keen on replacing V12s—not as long as it can get away with building them, which it still thinks it has about five years to do.

"The V12 still has a bit of potential, and having the V12 Vantage shows there's still room for a V12 in our sports car generation," remarked Aston Martin CEO Tobias Moers on the V12's future to Autocar. "The V12 Vantage gives an impression of where we move with the brand. It's the highest-performance sports car Aston ever did. It gives an idea what we're going to do with sports car manufacture."

2023 Aston Martin DBX 707, Aston Martin

Moers confirmed Aston will continue producing its in-house, twin-turbo V12 into 2026 or 2027, and implied that in its final years, the engine could become exclusive to limited-production models.

"If you still have customers chasing it, it's small numbers," Moers continued. "We're not talking about mass production."

After that, Astons that retain combustion power will presumably downsize to AMG's 4.0-liter V8, Aston's own inline-six, or to another, still smaller engine. Performance deficits will be made up with hybrid power, with Aston confirming last year its lineup will be 50 percent electric by 2030, and that 95 percent of its sales will be of electrified vehicles according to Green Car Reports. Just five percent will move under power of a combustion engine alone.

Video thumbnail

Still, Moers doesn't see Aston going to the same downsizing extremes as his former employer Mercedes-AMG, whose next generation of C63 and E63 super-sedans will exchange their twin-turbo V8s for hybridized, heavily boosted four-cylinders. Doing the same to Aston Martin would be "a step too far" to Moers, who added, "it might be my brainchild, but it doesn't fit with Aston as a brand."

So, Aston Martin's V12s are sticking around for a while, as will smaller combustion engines, though they'll do so with increasing degrees of electrification. The DBX, for example, is already sold as a hybrid in China, while Moers has previously confirmed to Automotive News that the next-generation DB, as well as the Vantage's successor, will go fully electric. As for the Valhalla and Valkyrie, they as Aston's halo cars will likely be the last holdouts for combustion engines in Aston's lineup. They, or whatever may replace them years from now, that is—assuming Aston Martin still has a superior supercar up its sleeve. With how the decade has unfolded so far, it's anyone's guess as to what the future looks like.

Got a tip or question for the author? You can reach them here: james@thedrive.com  

stripe
Aston Martin NewsNews by Brand