Aston Martin’s upcoming six-cylinder mild-hybrid version of the Aston Martin DBX SUV will be sold in China only, the company has said.
The car will be unveiled at the Guangzhou motor show, which starts on 19 November, CEO Tobias Moers said in a conference call with analysts last week.
The straight-six engine will be supplied by Mercedes-AMG and is expected to be a version of the 3.0-litre 429bhp configuration with 48V mild-hybrid assistance used by the Mercedes-AMG E 53.
The DBX is currently sold with a 542bhp twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 supplied by Mercedes-AMG but Chinese buyers are hit hard on taxation for buying larger-displacement engines. The DBX currently attracts an import tax of 25%, which will fall to 12% with the mild hybrid.
“A mild-hybrid in-line six perfectly fits the expectation of our customers in China,” Moers said.
Aston Martin has “no plans” to sell the model outside of China, a spokesman confirmed.
China is now Aston Martin’s second largest market, behind North America, after the DBX widened the brand’s appeal beyond sports cars, which are less popular there.
For all markets, Aston Martin will add another version of the DBX in spring next year, Moers said. He hinted that this will be a higher-performance variant. An S version could use the V8 producing 630bhp as used by AMG’s GT 63 S super-saloon. Less likely is that Aston will shoehorn in its own V12.
The company has also confirmed a plug-in hybrid version of the DBX is planned as part of a wider range of improvements for the model. “That’s more or less linked now to the facelift of the DBX,” Moers said. He added that the facelift is planned for 2024.
Moers said Aston Martin wouldn’t suffer in the medium term from not having a plug-in hybrid version, despite rival Bentley’s move to offer a PHEV drivetrain for the Bentley Bentayga. “Do we lose momentum on DBX by not having a plug-in hybrid? No. This is where we’re really confident,” he told investors on the call. “We know who the market leader is: Lamborghini Urus is the market leader in some areas without any hybrid.”
Aston expects half of its 6000 predicted sales in 2021 to come from the DBX, which is built in its St Athan, South Wales plant.
Nick Gibbs
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Must be hard to come up with a Car that different, different shape, new take on an interior and be better than the rest.
Yet other marques are able to do this. But then they often have some success they build off. The likes of Bentley who have wonderful interiors continue that theme. Or Porsche with the looks of their cars, evolving them.
Sadly, in recent times at Aston we have failed designs and they continue that theme rather than finding a new designer to fix Aston's biggest problem - The looks aren't selling their brilliant cars enough.
The hot V8 sounds lovely. I'm not usually one for an engine note but it does sound like a spitfire (the plane). The DBX is also, sadly, my favourite aston currently on sale (not saying much). The cabin's the only one remotely up to date and the software's *still* lagging behind. The grille's the only well proportioned one, too. The DBS looks like it's waiting to swallow something for cripe's sake. I don't hate modern Aston Martin. I mourn it. If Mercedes could turn the brand into anything like Rolls or Bentley, I hope they do. Rather see some platform sharing than hopeless failures. A China-only model for a low volume brand sounds stupid, though. Sell to whoever buys, they're all built in one place (right now).
I don't agree there is an issue with the looks, having had one slide past me one evening it was stunning in the metal, it is however slightly bulky.