Aston Martin is delaying the launch of its first electric vehicles and investing more in plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), scrapping its plans to have a “fully electrified” core range by 2030.
The company’s chief executive officer, Lawrence Stroll, said Autocar The brand’s dealers have heard that customers want the “sounds and smells” of combustion engine vehicles.
He also said there will “always be a demand” for internal combustion engine cars and promised to sell them for as long as the company is legally allowed to do so.
Mr. Stroll says his company has “decided to invest very heavily in PHEVs” and plans to offer them beyond the mid-2030s, calling PHEVs more than a “bridging technology.”
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Valhalla
“They’re going to last a lot longer than people thought a year ago,” he said, saying he doesn’t expect “any drop in demand at all until at least the mid-2030s.”
“As long as we are allowed to build cars with combustion engines, we will build them. I think there will always be demand, even if it is small.”
These PHEVs will be based on V8 engines from Mercedes-AMG, as Mr. Stroll explains Autocar Customers don’t want V6-powered Astons.
He also confirmed that the company plans to convert its V12 engine to hybrid technology.
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DB12
The company will launch its first PHEV this year, the twin-turbo V8 Valhalla.
Aston Martin is still working on a new, bespoke EV architecture, but will not launch its first electric model in 2025 as originally planned. Instead, it will be unveiled in late 2026 ahead of a launch in 2027.
Autocar says the architecture will form the basis for four cars: a GT, an SUV, a crossover and a “mid-engine” supercar.
“We designed and prepared a platform to accommodate four different vehicles,” Mr. Stroll said Autocar. “We technically developed and physically designed all products.
“We had planned the launch for the end of 2025 and were ready for it, but it seems that there is a lot more hype around electric vehicles, whether politically motivated or whatever, than consumer demand, especially at an Aston Martin price.”
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Advantage
He pointed to the weak demand for electric cars in the luxury segment and pointed out that Aston Martins are generally not bought as everyday cars, but rather are used for leisure purposes.
Mr. Stroll said he expects luxury SUVs to go fully electric before sports cars.
Under the title “Racing. Green.’ As part of the strategy announced in 2022, Aston Martin said it would introduce an electrified powertrain option across all of its product lines by 2026, with the aim of having “its entire core portfolio of GT sports cars and SUVs fully electrified by 2030.”
The company then confirmed that it would source powertrain components from luxury electric vehicle brand Lucid.
Aston Martin isn’t the only high-end brand delaying its electric vehicles.
Bentley had originally planned to launch its first electric vehicle in 2025, before switching to an all-electric range by 2030. Last month, the company confirmed that it would delay the launch of its first electric vehicle until 2027 and move to an all-electric vehicle by 2033.