Aston Martin Prepping to Compete With Ferrari, Porsche and Rolls-Royce

Aston Martin plans to bring out seven cars within seven years.

With the debut of the Aston Martin DB11 at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show, the British automaker kicked off its “Second Century” and has ambitious plans after years of struggle. Now at the helm is former Nissan executive Andy Palmer, who recently conducted an interview with Motor Authority revealing that the company plans to release seven cars in seven years.

But before we talk about the new cars, Palmer wanted to explain how the company has worked prior to his arrival. The biggest problem Aston Martin has had throughout its 100-year-plus history is that it would launch a car and it would initially sell well, but then the automaker would run out of money to do a facelift. “So as a consequence, the car got old, the sales went down, we went bankrupt,” Palmer said.

SEE ALSO: 2017 Aston Martin DB11 Easily the Best Looking Car in Lineup

Things are different now however, with Aston Martin putting in place a product plan for seven cars. According to Palmer, the first four cars are already financed and include the DB11, Vantage, Vanquish and DBX. After that, there are three more new vehicles, some of which may fit into the Lagonda sub-brand.

To give you an idea of the direction Palmer wants to take the marque, imagine a sports car that looks a bit like a Ferrari and a crossover that is a bit like Porsche, but without the volume. Then Aston Martin plans to introduce a luxury sedan that competes with Rolls-Royce. So, in a way, the company plans to cover the full scope of the luxury market so that it will not only be a valuable company, but a sustainable one.

Expect the production DBX crossover to be introduced by the end of the decade, which means the new vehicles will follow sometime after 2020. Palmer also touched on the topic of autonomous driving, saying that he believes Aston Martin is a “driver’s car,” meaning it has no plans to invest into a self-driving car. “There’s a point when your daughter’s Fiesta is capable of doing something, that’s the point where you have to start, but we’ll be dragged to the party kicking and screaming.”

[Source: Motor Authority]

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