Last summer, Aston Martin signed a deal with Lucid and announced plans to create a modular EV platform that would include 4 new models. These included everything from crossover to hypercar, with the first electric vehicle due to arrive in 2025.
This would no longer be the case, as the models are about two years behind schedule. Speaking to Autocar, Aston Martin’s chief executive said: “We had planned to launch them before 2025 and we were in a position to do so, yet it turns out that there is a lot more hype around electric vehicles, for political reasons or not, than customer demand, that is, at some point. Aston Martin is worth it.
Read more: Aston Martin partners with Lucid to power long-lasting electric vehicles
Stroll added that cars are “technically and physically designed,” but their consumers prefer to have cars with internal combustion engines. As a result, Aston Martin is doubling down on plug-in hybrids.
This is not surprising since, when the deal with Lucid was announced, Aston Martin said it would “deliver its first plug-in hybrid, the mid-engined Valhalla supercar, in 2024. “The company added that until 2026, “the new Aston Martin styling levels will feature an electrified powertrain option, with the long-term goal of its base diversity being fully electrified by 2030. “
Stroll has shown that the plug-in hybrids will use Mercedes V8 engines. He also told Autocar that he expected a V12 hybrid.
The executive expects plug-in hybrid powertrains to last at least a decade and allow ICE-powered models to endure. Speaking of this, Stroll said: “. . . as long as we’re allowed to make ICE-powered cars, we’ll make them. “
Needless to say, this isn’t the first time Aston Martin has backtracked on its EV ambitions. Nearly five years ago, the company unveiled the “production-ready” Rapide E at the 2019 Shanghai Auto Show. 155 examples were to be built, however, the car was scrapped at the last minute.