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Fresh off an overhaul of its model range, the British specialist has set its sights on a slew of limited editions intended to be more than just faster than regular models.
Aston Martin is planning to multiply its range of special editions – from performance specials to super-luxury versions – following in the tyre tracks of Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche.
The recently-appointed global boss of Aston Martin, Adrian Hallmark, told Asia-Pacific media including Drive the company's model line-ups will each expand "vertically" with new variants, rather than brand-new model lines.
In addition to the usual range of higher-performance models, the top executive hinted at more luxurious or practical derivatives to appeal to different customers.
It is a strategy intended to match the likes of Porsche, which rolls out a slew of variants of each sports model it launches – from entry-level grades to track-ready flagships – a market Aston Martin has historically not competed in.
Of the seven road-legal models it has launched in the past decade, only four have been available in more than one performance level.
"We'll take each of the nameplates and create versions of them that are much more targeted to specific customer segments," said Hallmark, who joined Aston Martin from Bentley last year.
"And by doing so, [we will] give new customers a reason to come to the brand, and existing customers a reason to step up again and buy another Aston Martin."
He cited the DBX – the company's first SUV – as one model with room to expand into new body styles and performance levels.
"DBX is a single proposition, but when I look at the way customers specify or consume DBX ... I've met more than 250 live customers in roundtables in China, in the US and in Europe in the first three months of being in the company.
"And when I look at the different types of customers, it's quite fascinating. I'd say 30 per cent-plus of the customers in China and the US are female that use DBX with 707 horsepower – and they do not even know how much horsepower it's got.
"What they do know is it looks cool, makes them feel great, they can fit the kids in, they can fit the dogs in, they can do their lifestyle activities at weekends, they can go to restaurants, they can go to events and they look like they've arrived in style.
"Now for them, the way that we curate the product could be quite different to the F1-inspired special editions or even high-performance regular editions that we can do around DBX.
"So whilst the positioning of Aston Martin is this ultra-luxury performance orientation, the space to be able to take DBX, spread its character and make it much more understandable for that customer group.
"And for the pure hedonist and … petrol heads that also exist, they want a different type of DBX.
"Instead of offering one car that is open to bespoke, which is great, we can start to curate different product configurations for different customer segments, apply that to all the name plates plus the specials."
Aston Martin now offers the DBX in a single DBX707 model grade, after deleting the less powerful standard DBX (405kW) and China-only six-cylinder trim (320kW).
Under the management of former Mercedes-AMG CEO Tobias Moers three years ago, roomier long-wheelbase and sportier ‘coupe’ derivatives of the DBX were expected, but they are yet to surface.
Hallmark said the Aston Martin range won’t grow beyond its current scope – the Vantage, DB12 and Vanquish front-engined sports cars, Valhalla mid-engined supercar, and DBX SUV – at least in any significant volumes.
"That is one heck of a portfolio. Many companies would kill to have that portfolio in itself, but we then could do specials.
"From Vanquish and from Valhalla, we can do real specials like Valour and Valiant [V12 manual versions of the old Vantage] that we've just done, and beyond.
"We're not looking to expand the core range more, we're looking to go vertically with specials and then fill in the gaps in-between with some of these customer-orientated derivatives with different characters."
The Aston Martin boss said the brand intends to expand its range of personalisation options to compete with rivals.
"If you took every option that we offer at Aston Martin and count the number of options that we provide to customers … if we do the same with all of the strategic competition, and I'll mention them – Lamborghini, Ferrari, Bentley, Rolls-Royce and McLaren.
"If you take those five brands out of all the options that they offer, deduct the Aston Martin ones, we're missing nearly 200 items that our competitors offer.
"Now to put [that] in context, one of them is the Starlight headlining on the [Rolls-Royce] Phantom … which I don't see a place for in an Aston Martin.
"So if we deduct the things that aren't brand relevant, we still have more than a hundred options that we don't offer the competition do.
"One of the things that we'll be doing … over the next one to three years is bringing in progressively more and more content to offer to customers that they currently can't get, be that titanium exhaust systems, carbon-fibre wheels or other cool stuff."
Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed for Drive in 2018, before joining CarAdvice in 2019, becoming a regular contributing journalist within the news team in 2020. Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines at a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family. Highly Commended - Young Writer of the Year 2024 (Under 30) Rising Star Journalist, 2024 Winner Scoop of The Year - 2024 Winner
