Aston Martin will return the Lagonda badge to the market in 2021 on a new luxury electric SUV.
The announcement follows the unveiling of a radical concept, the Lagonda Vision, at the Geneva motor show in March, and the new production car’s design language will be evolved from the concept.
According to its creators, the Lagonda SUV “will be the first in a range of state-of-the-art, emission-free luxury vehicles.” It will also be the first luxury SUV “exclusively driven by zero-emission powertrain technologies.” This powertrain will be a battery-electric unit with all-wheel-drive but what form it will take is not currently being revealed.
Near-future tech
In fact, no firm details of the new SUV have yet been announced, apart from a single artist’s impression of the car and an assertion that it will be built using near-future technologies. The Vision Concept made great use of the repackaging opportunities of electrification, allowing the layout of the interior to be finalised before the car was built around it. This resulted in extensive interior space.
At Geneva, Aston Martin promised that the new Lagondas would remain true to the heritage of the company founded by Anglo-American entrepreneur Wilbur Gunn in 1904. Gunn’s Lagondas were known for their innovation, one model in 1910 boasting a form of monocoque decades before the technology became widely accepted.
Aston Martin bought Lagonda in 1947 and continued the tradition, particularly with the strikingly-styled Aston Martin Lagonda of the 1980s. The last production Lagonda was made in 1994.
According to Aston Martin President and CEO Andy Palmer, reviving one of the most iconic names in motoring creates a unique opportunity. “(It) allows us to cast aside an inherited 20th century approach and instead design cars around 21st century demands and desires,” he says.
“The Lagonda SUV is the first of its kind: a spacious, high-performance 4×4 that successfully reconciles a love of technology, luxury and style,” Palmer adds.
Aston Martin design head Marek Reichman describes Lagonda as a luxury brand, but it is also one rooted in technology. “It will be like no other SUV to drive, so its looks have to reflect that new reality and to serve as pathfinder to a future in which the most desirable and prestigious automobiles still have a place,” he says.
Speculation suggests that the Lagonda could be built alongside the Aston Martin DBX SUV at the brand’s new plant in St Athan, south Wales.
