A 1,000-horsepower, battery-powered Aston Martin Rapide is indeed coming by the end of 2017. That’s what Aston Martin president and CEO Andy Palmer told Bloomberg during a recent interview in London, echoing reports from the New York Auto Show back in April.
This new Rapide EV will be followed by the anticipated DBX crossover , also electric. Pricing and range details have yet to be announced, of course, but some insiders hint at 320 kilometres of zero-emission travel.
“We’re talking about an electric Aston Martin with between 800 and 1,000 horsepower – imagine having all that torque on demand,” Palmer said while at the same time rejecting the idea of a downsized motor. “We’re a V12 engine company. Project that into the future. Do I go the way of the rest of the industry and downsize the engine? Do I see Aston Martin with a three-cylinder engine? God forbid.
Does this mean Aston Martin will directly rival Tesla? Palmer’s impression is that Tesla will increasingly target the middle-market with more affordable cars, like the upcoming Model 3. He said he wants to avoid anything “vanilla in the middle.”