Aston Martin Lagonda Vision Concept Gives Glimpse at Lagonda’s Future

Back in 2014, Aston Martin used the Geneva Motor Show to officially relaunch the Lagonda brand. Its first car was the $1 million Taraf, a hand-built ultra-luxury sedan with a carbon-fiber body and a 540-hp V-12. This year, Aston Martin brought out the much less conservative Vision Concept to show what future Lagondas may look like.

Like a lot of concept cars, the Lagonda Vision Concept was designed with autonomous technology in mind, but it’s meant to be more than a hypothetical transportation pod for future millionaires. Aston Martin says the Vision Concept previews the design language we’ll see in the two new Lagonda models it plans to launch in the next few years. Two scale models debuted alongside the Vision Concept to show how its design language could be adapted to fit a coupe and SUV as the lineup expands.

The first production model to use the Vision Concept’s design language will arrive in 2021, with a second model following two years later. From the sound of it, the first new Lagonda will be a sedan, while the second will either be an SUV or coupe. As popular as SUVs are these days, we’re betting on the former.

Features such as the retractable steering wheel, rotating front seats, and back-hinged rear doors probably won’t make it to production, but the electric powertrain definitely will. Aston Martin says it wants Lagonda to be the first luxury brand to exclusively sell zero-emission vehicles, so it designed the Vision Concept around a set of electric motors. Using solid-state batteries that may or may not be commercially available by 2021, Aston Martin says it’s targeting a 400-mile range. At that point, Lagonda owners could drive from Los Angeles to San Francisco on a single charge.

Without the need to accommodate an internal combustion engine, designers were able to make the Vision Concept smaller than a traditional executive sedan without sacrificing cabin space. Supposedly, there’s room for four 6’5″ passengers to stretch out in total comfort.

“Lagonda has no need to occupy a huge amount of road space or make an ostentatious wealth statement,” said Marek Reichman, Aston Martin’s Chief Creative Officer, in a release. “It is like comparing Concorde to the first class cabin of a conventional airliner. By ditching traditional architecture like Parthenon grilles and massive frontal areas, and by using electrical power, Lagonda design can still be distinctive and luxurious without being grandiose. It offers its customers a thoroughly modern, emission-free form of super-luxurious mobility.”

As far as actual autonomous technology goes, it sounds like Aston Martin hasn’t placed a high priority on bringing it to market. “For owners of true luxury cars, autonomy has existed for over a century, in a carbon-based form called a chauffeur,” said Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer. “We imagine most Lagonda customers will choose to be driven, but whether by a person or a computer will be up to them. And if they want to drive themselves, the car will ensure that is a delightful and memorable experience too. Lagonda will provide that choice.”

Source: Aston Martin

The post Aston Martin Lagonda Vision Concept Gives Glimpse at Lagonda’s Future appeared first on Motor Trend.

from Motor Trend http://ift.tt/2oMmIPc