The man behind Aston's resurgence

Minards goes on to explain how the VH platform can not only be stretched into different forms and updated in engineering terms but can also be selectively upgraded in the smallest areas. Recently Aston introduced a new Garmin sat-nav system to replace the old Volvo-derived product, and installed a Bang & Olufsen hi-fi in place of the previous Linn system. "The VH platform has a CEM – Central Electrical Module,” he says. “We can integrate the new sat-nav into the electrical architecture without having to start from scratch. That’s not to say our electrical architecture is the same as it was in 2004. It is constantly being adapted, as it was for the Rapide, which has a rear-cabin HVAC system.”

Aston engines reinvented

Even the Aston engine family has shown its ability to be reinvented. The V12 has been morphed into a quad-throttle, dry-sump unit that meets Euro 5 pollution rules and can claim to be the world’s most powerful normally aspirated production engine. It’s a similar story for the suspension. “We use the same suspension wishbones on all models,” says Minards, “but we can change the springs, dampers and wishbone bushes to tune the nature of the chassis, and even add adaptive damping.”

However, Aston can exercise much greater flexibility than playing industry-standard tunes on common suspension components. The same wishbones are used on the Aston Martin One-77 hypercar, even though its suspension set-up is based on a racing car-style pushrod system. Indeed, the front subframe of the DBS is made of cast aluminium, but on the One-77 it is machined from a solid chunk of aluminium. Aston is able to up-spec virtually any aspect of the VH platform, partly because it can commission high-value parts in low-run production volumes. This willingness to commission such components meets its apogee with the £1.44 million One-77. Although ostensibly part of the VH platform, the whole structure, from the bulkhead rearwards, is a carbonfibre monocoque. It is hand-layered and put into a vacuum bag (to remove the air voids in the layers and to ensure that excess resin is squeezed out of the materials), and then cured under heat and pressure in an autoclave. The result is cutting edge and hugely expensive.

View more pictures of the Aston Martin One-77

But the One-77 is meant to point the way forward for Aston. “With the One-77, we have taken the VH platform on a journey, with the engineering team stretching the boundaries,” says Minards. “In future, we will be using more carbonfibre.” Currently the DBS uses carbonfibre skin panels, made by laying up carbonfibre into nickel-plated moulds. It’s a labour-intensive process.

Low-cost carbonfibre

“We are looking to get to low-cost carbonfibre, priced at €20 to €30 per kilo,” continues Minards. “A new technique we call C2 F3P is being developed. It uses a robot that takes a continuous carbonfibre yarn and simultaneously chops it up and sprays it into a mould. This reduces the labour costs and means we can make panels with varying wall thicknesses.” It is easy to imagine a dash, or any number of smaller interior mouldings, being moulded out of carbonfibre in this way. It could also open the way for cheaper exterior panels.

Aston is out of step with the rest of the industry by seeming less concerned with chasing lower CO2 emissions figures, although Minards suggests that the issue is hitting customers simply because of the cost of filling the tank. “Getting above £100 makes people think,” he says, but he’s cautious about the usual cures. “Perhaps cylinder deactivation is the way – run on six and use the other six when you want performance. Stop-start could be integrated into the platform, and maybe a kinetic recovery system. But the problem with an electric motor is dragging the weight around all the time.”Diesel? “No,” he says. “We haven’t even scratched the surface with the possibilities of gasoline engines yet.”

View more pictures of the Aston Martin One-77

In some ways, the Aston Martin of the future is a bit like an upmarket jewellery operation. More exotic and higher-performing materials will be added to the mix, hopefully driving the perceived value of the brand ever higher. The glass buttons, polished lumps of aluminium and saddle leather deployed in the One-77 will, no doubt, migrate into the mainstream models. In fact, the extent to which Aston is prepared to go is exemplified by the One-77 philosophy of making all the parts beautiful, even those that can’t been seen. As design boss Marek Reichman has said, even the hidden surfaces on the One-77 are finished to the same quality as those on show.