New sedan concept

Jaguar D-Type

01-04-2006, 02:37 PM

New Aston Martin Rapide

autoweek.com 1-4-2006

By now, you may start to hear the first murmurs of the stunning Aston Martin Rapide concept, a svelte sedan destined to join a strong lineup of three contemporary Aston coupes.

Set to make its world premiere at the North American International Auto Show, the four-door Rapide lays the foundation for the rejuvenated British carmaker to take on upmarket sedans like the Maserati Quattroporte and the coming Porsche Panamera.

Though Aston chairman Ulrich Bez would be loath to admit it, the straight-talking German may have had the Panamera—and revenge—in mind when he conceived the Rapide. Bez, an engineer who rose to prominence at Porsche in the early 1990s, was the driving force behind the Panamera-like 989, essentially a four-door 911 that nearly made production. Only Porsche’s dire financial plight at the time doomed the project at the last minute.

Rapide is closely related to the DB9 in looks and mechanical makeup, with its real value lying in its full-size rear doors, four-seat layout and generous trunk. These features give the car a versatility and practicality above any of Aston’s existing models, while imparting visual excitement, interior craftsmanship and the core sporting values of its coupe siblings.

Aston’s recent financial strength during Bez’s reign affords the company a chance to renew its once-proud heritage of building a sporting four-door. It will do so with an elegant 6.0-liter, 480-hp V12-powered sedan that hearkens back to some of Aston Martin’s most significant models, including the 1961 DB4-based Lagonda Rapide from which the concept is clearly inspired and named.

The front-engine, rear-wheel-drive Rapide is crucial in increasing Aston’s future worldwide sales without the costly investment that comes with development of new models. Flexible manufacturing techniques allow Aston to build its three current models—the V8 Vantage, DB9 and Vanquish—from the same basic structure.

“The Rapide is adding value to the DB9,” says Bez. “It’s a performance car for every occasion.”

At 196.8 inches in overall length, the Rapide is 11.8 inches longer than the DB9, but at 4277 pounds, it is only 308 pounds heavier than the car upon which it is based. (This puts it just two inches shorter and 100 pounds lighter than the Quattroporte.) Under the new car is a versatile aluminum platform named VH (vertical/horizontal). It uses pressed-aluminum elements, castings and extrusions bonded for a stiff yet relatively lightweight and cost-effective structure. Its modular nature permits Aston to build cars of varying sizes and character, including, with the help of British engineering specialist Prodrive, the firm’s Le Mans race car.

Crucial among the priorities laid out by Bez during development was styling. “The proportions must be perfect,” he says. “If we couldn’t achieve this, then we wouldn’t have made the car.”

Rapide was created in only six months from exploratory sketches completed last June, just prior to Porsche’s announcement it had given the green light to building the four-door Panamera. Though drawing heavily on the DB9, the show car is credited to new Aston design boss Marek Reichman.

“We wanted to make the most beautiful four-door car in the world,” Reichman says. “Although it is slightly taller than the DB9, the proportion is the same, allowing the flowing lines to encase a spacious passenger compartment.”

Bez guarantees Rapide will live up to buyer expectations as a sports car. “A sports car is not simply characterized by the number of doors,” says Bez, “so a four-door car can still have the performance of a traditional Aston Martin sports car.”

Power for the Rapide hails from a revised DB9 V12 engine that pushes out 36 hp more than its two-door sibling. Drive is channeled to the rear wheels via a six-speed ZF automatic gearbox. To offset the four-door’s added weight, Aston gives the Rapide unique gear ratios and a lower final drive that results in performance on par with DB9. That means 0 to 60 mph in about 4.6 seconds, a standing quarter-mile in less than 13 seconds and top speed around 186 mph.

Check this link

New sedan concept (http://seriouswheels.com/top-2006-Aston-Martin-Rapide-Concept.htm)

Jaguar D-Type

01-04-2006, 07:15 PM

From Top Gear

http://www.rsportscars.com/foto/01/rapide06_01.jpg

http://www.rsportscars.com/foto/01/rapide06_02.jpg

porscheguy9999

01-05-2006, 01:45 AM

Thats a sick concept. Damn, she's HOT! And that model isnt bad either... hehe. I can see a comparo between the Quattroporte, Panamera and this Rapide being very entertaining. I have no dobuts that this will be produced.

Man, Jaguar D-Type, you beat me to the punch on this one. I think we might be rivals on starting threads about new cars/concepts :p

Jaguar D-Type

01-09-2006, 04:46 PM

ma51

01-10-2006, 10:20 PM

Awesome idea doing a four-door. I'm kinda' surprised they didn't think of it a a long time ago. And Aston seems to have deftly avoided the ungainly look that a lot of stretched sports cars fall into.

They haven't officially said whether or not they're going to produce it, but it's hard to imagine them not doing so.

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Jaguar D-Type

01-11-2006, 04:33 AM

I'm 50/50 on the new concept. It is nice, but I think they should stick to race cars (DBR9 and DBRS9, GT cars (DB9 and Vanquish S), and sports cars (V8 Vantage) with relevant technology that seems to be escaping many cars these days.

The trunk and rear passenger area aren't that big. The open trunk would allow more road noise in the cabin than a DB9 with its fixed trunk.

http://shows.autospies.com/gallery/auto-show-photos.asp?imageId=19939&galleryId=32

http://shows.autospies.com/gallery/auto-show-photos.asp?imageId=19927&galleryId=32

http://shows.autospies.com/gallery/auto-show-photos.asp?imageId=19923&galleryId=32

Aston Martin has made sedans before.

1927 T-Type Tourer

http://cwimg.us.publicus.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=CW&Date=20060109&Category=FREE&ArtNo=301090001&Ref=V2&MaxW=490

1936 15/98 Two-Liter Saloon

http://cwimg.us.publicus.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=CW&Date=20060109&Category=FREE&ArtNo=301090001&Ref=V3&MaxW=490

1940 Atom

http://cwimg.us.publicus.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=CW&Date=20060109&Category=FREE&ArtNo=301090001&Ref=V4&MaxW=490

1964 Lagonda Rapide

http://cwimg.us.publicus.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=CW&Date=20060109&Category=FREE&ArtNo=301090001&Ref=V5&MaxW=490

1974 V8 Lagonda

http://cwimg.us.publicus.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=CW&Date=20060109&Category=FREE&ArtNo=301090001&Ref=V6&MaxW=490

G-man422

01-11-2006, 06:55 AM

looks nice. those front light and side lines of the car look a little "porschey". maybe thats just me.

Jaguar D-Type

02-21-2006, 05:16 PM

Rapid(e) Track: Aston Martin pushes to get Rapide in showrooms by mid-2007

AutoWeek

2/21/2006

STUTTGART -- Aston Martin will produce a four-foor, four-seat car based on the Rapide concept in the summer of 2007, suppliers say.

The surprisingly quick launch will give the British company a two-year lead on Porsche in creating a four-door niche atop its lineup. Porsche's Panamera, which has a similar layout, is expected in 2009 or early 2010.

Aston Martin, owned by Ford Motor Co., unveiled the Rapide as a concept at the Detroit auto show last month. Aston called it production-ready, but few expected the $250,000 Rapide to arrive so soon.

Start of production of the Rapide is scheduled for August 2007, suppliers told Automotive News Europe.

One supplier source said Aston Martin plans to build 3,000 to 3,500 Rapides a year. Porsche is planning at least 20,000 units a year.

Porsche approved the Panamera project last July but has just started development.

"Porsche takes four years to make a new car, so the Panamera will be on the market not sooner than 2010," a supplier executive said.

Porsche said last summer that the Panamera was coming in 2009.

The Rapide and the Panamera have similar mechanical layouts -- a front, longitudinally mounted engine driving the rear wheels -- and coupe-style bodies with four doors. But they use radically different structures.

The 196.9-inch-long Rapide has an all-aluminum structure based on Aston Martin's VH architecture. The Porsche Panamera is expected to have a steel unibody, as do the 911 and the Cayenne.

Aston Martin CEO Ulrich Bez spearheaded the Rapide project. Bez has wanted to build a four-door, four-seat coupe since he was responsible for product design and development at Porsche in the early 1990s.

Indeed, Bez developed one, called the 989 project, while at Porsche. But the project was killed in 1992.

Bez left Porsche in 1993 to become Daewoo Motor's chief technical officer. After joining Aston Martin in 2000, Bez resumed work on his dream car.

Jaguar D-Type

03-07-2006, 11:22 PM

Marek Reichman, Aston Martin's new Director of Design.

http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/features/2006/car-designers/03-large/astonmartin-marekreichman.jpg

Jaguar D-Type

04-18-2006, 01:13 AM

Jaguar D-Type

05-23-2006, 03:05 PM

New four-door Aston Martin gets green light; vehicle aimed at upcoming Porsche Panamera

By GREG KABLE

Autoweek 5-23-2006

Aston Martin boss Ulrich Bez has confirmed the company's well-received Rapide concept will become a production reality. In an interview with the German based automotive industry magazine and AutoWeek sister publication, Automobilwoche, Bez signaled a decision to build the svelte four-door sedan had recently been taken by Aston Martin parent and that it would reach North American showrooms before the similarly conceived Porsche Panamera, which is due out in 2009.

"We're not taking any orders yet. But the car will be built," Bez said, adding, "The Rapide will reach the market before the Panamera." This leaves Aston Martin just two and half years to engineer and develop the new car, which will line up alongside the V8 Vantage, DB9 and a successor to today's Vanquish to provide the rejuvenated British sportscar maker with arguably its strongest model range ever.

The basis for the new front-engined sedan will be a modular aluminium structure similar to that employed on other Aston Martin models, with production set to take place at the company's Gaydon facility in England. Bez indicated the luxuriously equipped Rapide will sit at the very top of the Aston Martin stable, with production likely to range from 300 to 500 cars per year. Power for Aston Martin's new flagship is expected to come from a reworked version of the DB9's 5.9-liter V12 engine producing up to 500 hp.

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New sedan concept