V8s and V12s are Aston Martin' Future

Aston Martin says it doesn’t have any plans to follow the recent trend towards smaller turbocharged engines in the search for better efficiency.

The brand’s chief executive Dr Ulrich Bez has rejected speculation Aston Martin is shopping around for engines that are smaller, more fuel-efficient or more technologically advanced.

It has been widely reported Aston Martin wants to source new engines from Mercedes-Benz, with which it already has an agreement in place to use GL-Class underpinnings for its Lagonda SUV project. Aston Martin is also talking to Mercedes about taking the lead in reviving the ailing Maybach brand, but Dr Bez says no agreement has been reached.

Aston Martin's 4.7-litre V8 and 6.0-litre V12 engines are both derived from the British brand's former alliance with Ford that ended in 2007. In the V8 Vantage S model launched this month, the smaller engine uses an official combined figure of 12.9 litres per 100km, while the V12 used in the company's new Virage model drinks 12.5L/100km. However, Dr Bez says he's in no hurry to replace the ageing pair.

"We became independent and people said 'how are they going to do that? They need the technology'," he says. "We are since four years independent, and we are more profitable than ever before.

"We have engines, we have a 12-cylinder engine that when I look at the next 10 years, I am pretty sure we will still have this engine. Under the condition there is not a global regulation that says from now on you can only have three-cylinder engines with 800cc.

"We will have the 12-cylinder in the future. I don't need somebody else to give me an engine. We also have an eight-cylinder engine which is also not at the end of development."

He concedes shifts in global tastes or regulations could prompt a rethink, however.

"Beijing has just said from next month you are not allowed to make advertising for luxury products [in China]," he says. "If from tomorrow they come and say 'from now on you are only allowed to have maximum of six cylinder, 2.5-litre engines' to go into Beijing or Shanghai, I don't have this engine and I have to go somewhere else."

He says Aston Martin maintains links to a number of fellow manufacturers who could assist. "Mercedes is such a company. BMW made an arrangement to deliver engines to Saab. They could deliver engines to us. The same could be from Toyota, where we have friends, or from Nissan. We have good friends for all those things," he says.

Dr Bez also denies reports he is seeking a six-cylinder engine to offer as a more economical option for the company's V8 and V12-powered sports cars.

The company recently built its own 2.0-litre, six-cylinder engine for its AMR-One Le Mans racing car but Dr Bez says he has no plans in the immediate future to offer this or any other six-cylinder engine on an Aston Martin road car.

"I was asked [at the launch of the racing engine] if I can imagine this, and I said 'yes, I can imagine this'," he says.

"I can imagine a lot of things. That doesn't mean they are going to come true. The time is not right."

source : kompas.com