Aston Martin's V12 powered Rapide sedan is dead in 2018, according to company CEO Dr. Andy Palmer. The gorgeous but slow-selling super-sedan will be phased out in favour of a trio of other vehicles, including an electric-powered sedan. Palmer told motoring.com.au that "the Rapide as a car by itself disappears, (but) the four-door market is covered in a different way."
The Rapide's 6.0L V12 offers up to 590 hp, but even that healthy power output can't outrun tightening emissions standards. The Rapide will be "replaced by the DBX on one hand and the Lagonda on the other" according to Palmer, sometime around 2020. The DBX is a two-door crossover that Aston Martin showed at the 2015 Geneva show. It wears the usual and wonderful Aston nose but is taller and larger than the automaker's coupes. It looks more like a lifted Vantage than a traditional crossover.
The Lagonda is a stunning sedan built with a carbon fiber body, based on the Rapide S. It's a super-luxury sedan, initially available only in the Middle East, and with a $1 million price tag. Cars like that (and their owners) aren't overly concerned with emissions and fuel economy.
The Rapide isn't going away entirely, though. It's shuffling some capitalization to become the RapidE. That's the name that the new electric sedan will be getting. As to when the EV DB will arrive, Palmer said "it’s coming 2018. It’s around the corner." The electric RapidE is rumoured to have 800 hp from an electric powertrain developed by Williams Advanced Engineering, of Williams Formula 1 team fame.
Aston expects diesels to become more and more of a tough sell to countries with increasing pollution problems. Palmer expects that "the next thing you will see is that some cities demand you have an electric car on certain days," and the RapidE will give the company a car that will let them meet that challenge.
