Text | Joey
Regardless of james Bond's life and death obsession, at least his car, Aston Martin, now seems to be living quite well, and with the blessing of the Chinese market, it has rejuvenated its vitality.
On Saturday, Aston Martin unveiled a new car under the DBX series, the DBX STRAIGHT-SIX. At this conference, the brand that has been standing on the track of human pursuit of extreme driving speed since its birth in 1913, passed on two messages to me.
The first message is that Aston Martin will return to F1, a track that tests the car's extreme manufacturing capabilities; the second message is that the DBX model, which has created the history of aston Martin SUV models, has introduced an inline six-cylinder version with a 48V light hybrid motor that is close to the needs of more ordinary users.
To the market that has blown up
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Combine these two pieces of information and you'll come to a very intuitive conclusion. That is, at the level of brand development, Aston Martin has never given up on the pursuit of better car technology. However, at the actual brand operation level, being able to find more consumers at a lower price is the core key to the continuous evolution of the brand and its endless life.
In fact, despite the limitations of price factors, Aston Martin has always been on the road of luxury and niche. But in the face of the wind outlet, any brand has the ability to take off. Especially in China, it is particularly beneficial to the market where cars, especially top luxury cars are sold. Both the Aston Martin brand as a whole and the first SUV model in the brand's history, DBX, are clearly the beneficiaries of this huge market.
In 2021, before it was over, Aston Martin had achieved more than 600% growth; dbx accounted for more than 70% of sales in the Chinese market. Although for such a high-priced, hand-made luxury car, the predictable sales base is not too high, but in terms of growth ratio, it can still be considered amazing.
Along with sales is the layout of the Aston Martin sales network. Since entering the Chinese market ten years ago, aston Martin's network of authorized dealers in China has grown from 4 to 22. Together with Aston Martin Guangzhou, which opens at the end of November, the dealership will reach 23.
Although it is still not fast compared to the spread speed of dealers of many luxury brands, it is already a steady pace of British gentlemen to advance their business scope.
This time, Aston Martin launched the inline six-cylinder light mix version of DBX, and further lowered the price to less than 2 million yuan (1.898 million yuan), obviously not just want to enrich the brand's product matrix, hoping to make the sales data "gallop" a good wish at a more "close to the people" price, but also accounted for the majority.
The question now is, will such an inline six-cylinder light hybrid version of the DBX meet the needs of Aston Martin's target owners? In fact, this kind of problem is actually a bit of a concern, because although the DBX is the first time in the brand's history (the launch of an SUV model), the inline six cylinder is not.
The times are different, and so are the straight six
As early as the 1950s, Aston Martin ushered in an era of the brand's iconic "Newport Pagnell Sixes", and from this new era burst out a series of classic models in the brand's history.
Including DB2, DB4, DB4 GT Zagato, the legendary model DB5, which first appeared in the movie 007: Goldfinger in 1964, the legendary car DBR1 that made history at Le Mans in 1959, and the ASTON Martin Formula 1 DBR4, all equipped with inline six-cylinder engines.
Of course, the times are different, and the inline six-cylinder engine with 3.0L + turbocharging technology has also added new technologies such as 48V light hybrid technology in the context of the era of hybridization and even pure electrification of automotive technology.
The 48V hybrid motor on the DBX can not only replace the functions of the starter motor and ac motor that was previously installed, but also help the vehicle achieve a more efficient driving experience.
Such an experience not only refers to the energy-saving experience during the driving process of the vehicle (the people who buy the car do not really care), but also to achieve a smooth start of the vehicle and taxi parking at low speed, obviously for more Aston Martin owners, such a smoother driving experience can help them on congested urban roads, further enhance the comfort and luxury experience of vehicle use.
With this comes the vehicle's ability to control pollutant emissions, which has also been improved. With the in-line six-cylinder + mild hybrid system, the DBX STRAIGHT-SIX's CO2 emissions were reduced from 310 g/km to 250 g/km. Obviously, the contribution to environmental protection is also being further strengthened.
Of course, the battery can be mounted without accident, which can achieve better and more reasonable counterweights in front of and behind the body, which is very important for vehicle handling. At the same time, the lightweight design of the engine allows the vehicle to lose weight by up to 30 kg, further realizing the weight reduction of the body.
But these are just side dishes, as a pursuit of high-performance car brand, even if it only uses a 3.0T engine, it can still provide users with a very good performance experience and driving experience.
Equipped with a 48V electric supercharger, the DBX STRAIGHT-SIX provides instantaneous torque response, eliminates turbo lag, and provides instantaneous acceleration performance assistance, with the new car being able to accelerate from 0-100 km/h in 5.4 seconds and with a top speed of 259 km/h.
There is no doubt that Aston Martin is still the one who pursues the ultimate performance, and does not make too many compromises in order to make it more affordable.
Obviously, Aston Martin is still exploring how to gain more market share based on traditional arts such as performance and luxury. Although DBX STRAIGHT-SIX is still an unattainable dream for many people. But at least, the price of straight six, light mixing, and the price has dropped to less than 2 million yuan, allowing us to see aston Martin's determination and action to embrace a broader market.
And for Aston Martin's fans, going to the field first to see an F1 game with Aston Martin involved; and then trying to make some money to get as close as possible to James Bond has actually become a wish that may be fulfilled, right?