Aston Martin always tends to have something interesting to unveil at the Geneva Motor Show, often something with a loud, hugely powerful V8 or V12 – but this year the company will be showing something slightly different: the zero-emission Lagonda All-Terrain Concept.
Now before you switch off, searching through the internet for something that, on face value at least, sounds a little more interesting, hold on. The name Lagonda has a long and interesting history, both as part of Aston Martin and as its own entity before being bought by Aston Martin in 1948.
The last Lagonda production vehicle was the Taraf, a big, luxurious saloon with a hefty $1million price tag and the mechanical underpinnings of a Rapide. Production ended in 2016, after which Lagonda refocussed and, at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show, proclaimed to the world it was evolving into “the world’s first luxury zero emission brand”, unveiling the eye-catching Lagonda Vision Concept. The All-Terrain Concept is the next step for Lagonda, a car that will undoubtedly follow the Vision Concept’s design language but, as the name suggests, resemble something the company is more likely to find customers for: an SUV.
It’s worth pointing out this might not be a fully-electric vehicle, so to speak. Although a battery and electric motor combination is incredibly likely (one motor for each wheel, giving four-wheel-drive and a potential 400-mile range), Lagonda uses the phrase “zero emission powertrain technologies” rather than “electric powertrain”, so the mechanicals could be something a little more exotic, like a hydrogen fuel cell, for example.
Aston’s CEO Andy Palmer said: “The Lagonda All-Terrain Concept offers explicit clues regarding what will be the first Lagonda model to enter production, and further demonstrates how Lagonda’s zero emission powertrain enables us to create spectacular cars that will radically redefine their sectors of the market.”
If a zero emission SUV isn’t your cup of tea, you’ll be glad to know the DBS Superleggera, Vantage and DB11 AMR will all be on the Aston’s Geneva stand as well. The big, shouty engines aren’t dead yet.
Aston Martin
Lagonda
Geneva Motor Show
Geneva Motor Show 2019