Goodbye Lagonda, hello Mercedes-Benz EQ.
Tobias Moers, Aston Martin CEO, has revealed some of the ways the sports car maker use of its strengthened technology and financial alliance with Mercedes-Benz, which was announced last week.
In an interview with Automotive News Europe, Moers revealed Aston Martin is planning to launch its first pure electric vehicle in either 2025 or 2026 using a Mercedes-Benz architecture.
The CEO said attempting to go it alone with an electric platform would mean the company’s “capex [capital expenditure] line would look dramatically more expensive”.
Although he didn’t go into specifics, it seems likely Aston Martin will use, in some form, the new electric vehicle architecture — or EVA — currently being developed by Mercedes-Benz.
Mercedes-Benz EQS sedan under development
The first production model to use the architecture will be the Mercedes-Benz EQS sedan, which is scheduled to make its debut in 2021.
EVA will then be used as the basis for the recently spied EQS crossover, and smaller EQE sedan and crossover.
Under Andy Palmer, Aston Martin’s previous CEO, the automaker was close to launching an electric version of the Rapide sedan, only to pull the plug at the last minute.
The British company was also planning to relaunch Lagonda as its electric-only marque. That idea has officially been scrapped with Moers stating: “Lagonda has a different purpose for the future. Electric-driven cars are supposed to be Aston Martins.”
2015 Aston Martin Lagonda Taraf
Before it dips its expensive moccasins into the electric car waters, Aston Martin expects by 2024 20 to 25 per cent of its sales will come from electrified models.
The first cab off the company’s hybrid rank will be the Valhalla supercar, which was slated to launch in 2021 with a V6 hybrid drivetrain developed in-house by Aston Martin.
Moers said the company is still working on the V6 hybrid, but now also has “alternatives” — likely Mercedes-Benz drivetrains — available to it, although it was “too early to say” which will end up in the Valhalla.
Aston Martin will follow this up with the Vanquish, a mid-engine two-door with an electrified drivetrain, and a plug-in hybrid version of the DBX crossover.
