Monterey Car Week, held annually in mid-August, is a festival of automotive high style and drinking teas with outstretched pinkie fingers. It’s the perfect place, then, for the very British marque of Aston Martin to unveil a two-seater open-cockpit concept car, one with a coachbuilt design and twin-turbo V12 under its slinky bonnet.
Called the DBR22, it is the latest in a long line of projects handled by its in-house bespoke division, Q by Aston Martin. This year, the division is celebrating a full decade of building exclusive cars — ranging from the one-off Victor to the there’s-only-fourteen Vantage V600. The DBR22 is technically a design concept, but Aston insists it forms “the basis of a production reality” for an ultra-exclusive number of Q customers.
The 2022 Aston Martin DBR22 concept Photo by Aston Martin
The 2022 Aston Martin DBR22 concept Photo by Aston Martin
The 2022 Aston Martin DBR22 concept Photo by Aston Martin
The 2022 Aston Martin DBR22 concept Photo by Aston Martin
The 2022 Aston Martin DBR22 concept Photo by Aston Martin
The 2022 Aston Martin DBR22 concept Photo by Aston Martin
The 2022 Aston Martin DBR22 concept Photo by Aston Martin
Said to wear a completely new body from the designers at Aston Martin, it does indeed fit the definition of “coachbuilt.” Of particular interest is its entirely new front grille, one which incorporates a unique carbon-fibre design in place of the usual veins seen on series-production Astons. It draws from heritage using ultramodern materials, and could speak to design details on future cars as well.
Behind that grille is a 5.2-litre V12 twin-turbo engine belting out 705 horsepower and 555 lb-ft of torque. That’s allegedly good for a sprint to 60 mph in just 3.4 seconds, on its way to a top speed of 319 km/h (198 mph). An eight-speed flappy-paddle automatic handles shifting duties. Interestingly, the DBR22 features a 3D-printed rear subframe — the first time Aston Martin has used such a construction method. The component is made from multiple 3D-printed parts, which are printed from aluminium and bonded to form the finished subframe. Engineers claim no loss in stiffness, while bed-wetting bean-counters surely like the idea of not having to make more parts than are absolutely required for a low-volume model.
Those twin nacelles behind the seats look great and give this author an opportunity to use a word normally only used when referring to the Starship Enterprise. The full-width rear light bar is unmistakable, while its interior incorporates modern tech like sleek infotainment displays without disrupting the open cockpit feel.
Aston’s been finding its feet recently, after a few years of trying to find its way out of “all yer cars look the same” complaints. At least they were gorgeous. Back in July, the brand announced tweaks to its logo, the first since 2003, shedding some of the winged detail and simplifying the emblem. A strategic repositioning in the marketplace to emphasize its lot in life as the maker of “exquisitely addictive performance cars” has been the largest investment in Aston Martin’s brand language for more than a decade.
Keyword: Aston Martin shows off open-cockpit DBR22 concept at Monterey