There has been no official announcement on the future of the DBS, which bowed out last year with the 770 Ultimate edition, but Long said the brand “will always have a flagship”, and its desire to reinforce its sporting prowess means a top-rung supercar is clearly all but a necessity.
Long added: “The focus on performance as a pillar of the brand is critical. Historically, we’ve been a performance brand as well as a luxury brand, and we’re moving back to that.”
Crucial to Aston Martin’s desire to cement its status as a maker of top-drawer sports cars as well as more luxury cars will be ensuring that each of its front-engined models has its own distinct character and capabilities.
“Rather than having products with two levels of power output and performance – and that includes dynamics and braking and all the other aspects of what makes a proper performance car – we now have to bring these power levels that give our cars the edge,” said Long.
Long also emphasised that V12 engines are “synonymous” with Aston Martin. “People still love the twelves,” he said. “As much as the electrification revolution continues, [a V12 engine has] a different use case, and it’s still very much a huge emotional connection for our customers.”
Aston Martin is expected to unveil the DBS successor this summer, possibly at the Monterey Car Week in August where, in previous years, it has revealed the Valhalla supercar, DBR22 speedster and Valkyrie Spider.
