Not even low-volume, high-dollar supercars can escape the grips of upcoming emissions restrictions. Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer has declared that “we will be 100 percent hybrid by the middle of the 2020s,” according to a report published by the U.K. newspaper Financial Times and confirmed by the company’s public relations staff. That statement doesn’t exactly mean what it says, however. Aston Martin will not be exclusively hybrid; rather, it will offer hybrid options for all of its vehicles while maintaining gasoline-only vehicles in its lineup in that time frame.
Aston Martin’s plans include a lineup with gasoline and electric vehicles as well as hybrids that use both. It plans to launch the fully electric RapidE in the latter half of 2019, a kickoff of sorts toward making a quarter of the lineup gasoline-free, moving toward completely electric by 2030. The company’s foray into more utility-focused vehicles will also begin with the production of the DBX in 2019, although that vehicle will make its debut first as a gas model, with an alternative powertrain following later.
According to the report, Aston plans to create its own electric powertrains for these upcoming vehicles, not source them from another manufacturer as it does some of its gas engines. Palmer likened the upcoming electric technology to the company’s famed V-12 engine, claiming that both are core technologies to Aston Martin and require the full attention and focus of in-house development. Though the actual battery cells will be brought in, the packs and motors will be Aston’s own.
The news comes not long after Volvo made a similar announcement regarding its lineup. Not only did it reposition its Polestar brand as an electric-only division, it declared that all of its vehicles will have some sort of electric element starting in 2019. The decisions from the Swedish and British carmakers come after some European companies declared an inevitable end to gasoline engines. Britain wants to ban the sale of nonhybrid vehicles by 2040, while France is going even more extreme and intends to stop sale on any vehicles that use traditional internal combustion in any form.
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