Lawrence Stroll, the new CEO of Aston Martin, is positive that a battery-powered SUV and sports car will appear in the marque’s lineup in four years’ time.
According to him, the sports car will be a ‘proper’ one – which implies a front-mounted engine and a rear-wheel drive system.
The abovementioned layout, while indeed classical for ICE vehicles, is still mainly dictated by space, weight and complexity requirements: a RWD system generates more momentum than a FWD one while being simpler to implement. In turn, putting the engine at the front end optimizes weight distribution.
Things play out differently with EVs, however, because their motors are much smaller and the weight distribution largely depends on the battery size and placement.
In theory, Stroll’s words could be interpreted as a wish to produce an electric sports car that would feel as close as possible to a traditional ICE car. To that end, he even specifically mentioned the DB11 as a good starting point. However, the reality is that most EVs built on traditional platforms tend to have inferior acceleration and handling compared to those designed from scratch.
The aforementioned SUV went without any further comment. We would expect that model to be based on Mercedes-Benz tech.
In other news, Aston Martin had originally intended to launch its Lagonda EV range (featured in our gallery and the video here) in 2021, but a change of leadership two years ago put a lid on these plans. Stroll cut many expenses when he came into office, but he still promises to electrify the entire range by the start of the next decade.