PETALING JAYA: It would not be hyperbole to say the future of Aston Martin hinges on the success of the DB11, one of the most beautiful cars in the world.
First deliveries are scheduled to begin during the fourth quarter. A check with the Aston Martin dealership in Malaysia indicates the car is likely to arrive before Christmas with indicative pricing at RM2.3mil. Two of three DB11s ordered for the Malaysian market initially are still available for the taking, if you are asking.
Aston Martin Singapore echoed the same line while qualifying it by saying the DB11 may arrive by the first quarter of 2017 at the latest. The Aston Martin office in the island republic is also the Asia-Pacific hub, with Australia and New Zealand falling under its ambit.
The DB11 will be selling in its home country at £155,000 (RM818,195), €204,900 (RM914,677) in Germany and US$211,995 (RM852,951) in the United States.
Locally, the sales of Aston Martin cars has also seen a big change not too long ago. The Aston Martin franchise in Malaysia has undergone a changeover last November with the regional automotive powerhouse Wearnes taking over from Jelita Seleksi Sdn Bhd, which had been handling the British brand since July 2012.
The Singapore-based Wearnes Automotive holds distributorships and dealerships for Aston Martin and a range of premium passenger marques in the city-state and around the region. Other brands include Jaguar Land Rover, Bentley, Bugatti, Infiniti, Volvo and Renault. In Malaysia, the Wearnes group has stakes in Volkswagen, BMW and MINI dealerships as well.
So far, DB11 has been well received since its world debut at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show and is making waves in the latest unveiling in New Zealand last week. Underlining Singapore’s importance as a market for Aston Martins and the hub for Asia-Pacific operations, the DB11 was previewed at the same time as its maiden showing at the Geneva show in March. This made Singapore the first country to preview the GT car outside the motor show.
The successor to the DB9 – the DB10 was the James Bond car in Spectre – the DB11 leads the charge under the company’s “Second Century” plan, which aims to deliver seven new models in seven years as part of an overall stragey to drive growth through revamping and expanding the line-up. In the past, Aston Martin has been lethargic in coming out with new models but not anymore. A crossover, a mid-engine V8 supercar and an all-electric RapidE are in the pipeline.
Aston Martin boss Andy Palmer wants to leave nothing to chance when launching a pivotal new model. He has taken to inspecting the first 1,000 customer DB11s. Approved units will have a plaque signed by Palmer and mounted on the V12 engines, built at an Aston Martin plant in Cologne, Germany.
Designed in-house, the V12 engine develops 600hp and 700Nm of torque, making DB11 the most powerful production DB model ever. It’s also the fastest and most accelerative, too, with a top speed of 322kph and a 0-100kph time of just 3.9s, while cylinder bank activation and stop-start technology is matched by improved efficiency.
Opened in 2004, the Cologne plant is a state-of-the-art facility created solely for the production of Aston Martin engines. Production of the 6.0L V12 and 4.7L V8 engines will continue there. Future sports cars including the RapidE would be built at Aston’s headquarters and manufacturing centre in Gaydon, Warwickshire. The crossover would be produced at a new Welsh plant.
Aston Martin gets its funding from Middle Eastern and Italian investors and it has so far received £700mil (RM3.7bil) to fuel its Second Century Plan.
Keyword: Xmas is coming and so is Aston Martin DB11