Confirming a longstanding rumor, outspoken Aston CEO Andy Palmer has revealed the company is currently debating whether to move forward with the development of what he refers to as an ultimate sports car.
“There is rarely smoke without fire. I have talked openly about a flagship supercar and a number of studies, including designs, are going on,” affirmed Palmer in an interview with British magazine AutoExpress.
However, the executive warned that building a successor to the limited-edition One-77 (pictured) isn’t one of Aston’s top priorities. The company is in the early stages of revamping its entire lineup, a Herculean task that begins with developing a new modular platform called VH5. The DB11, the first car underpinned by the VH5 platform, will be introduced next year.
Later on, Aston will allocate the bulk of its resources to developing a crossover whose design will be loosely inspired by the DBX concept that was presented in Geneva last March. A couple of months ago, Aston secured £200 million (nearly $275 million at the time) in additional funding from its parent company and one of its largest investors to build its first-ever crossover, so it’s under a lot of pressure to get it right.
In short, while the hypercar isn’t merely a wild rumor, it’s currently little more than an idea that gets tossed around during board meetings. Palmer hopes to make a final call on the matter before the end of the year, but we don’t expect to see it bow until much later in the decade if it gets the proverbial green light for production.
