It looks like Aston Martin could be getting AMG/Mercedes platforms too

Mercedes/AMG platforms would make the Lagonda SUV a reality

We’d been expecting Aston Martin to get access to Mercedes platforms ever since the Lagonda SUV – based on the underpinnings of the Mercedes GL - arrived in all its ‘beauty’ in 2009. The Lagonda SUV was met with wails of anguish from lovers of Aston Martin’s timeless beauty but, despite the horror at the looks of the SUV, the prospect that Aston Martin could be heading down a collaboration route with Mercedes was welcome.

It was welcome because without the support of a major car maker – and access to its technology – Aston Martin would have little chance of a bright future; there is no way a minnow like Aston Martin could afford the development cost of new engines and platforms.

But when a deal between Aston Martin and the Mercedes performance arm, AMG, came to fruition, it only included engines and electronic architecture – a proper disappointment for AML.

But it seems Aston Martin’s (soon to be) erstwhile boss – Dr Ulrich Bez – expects the deal with AMG to extend to platforms after all.

Speaking to Autocar, Bez said there was lots of potential still to be discovered in the AMG deal and there’s potential for Aston Martin to emulate Porsche by producing SUVs and reacting to niche markets and regulation changes with the support of AMG’s technology.

And although Bez thinks Aston Martin’s venerable Ford-derived V12 has another decade of life, it’s the prospect of AMG engines – tweaked for Aston Martin – finding their way in to AML’s future models – and based on platforms from AMG – that’s most appealing.

It almost raises the prospect of Aston Martin becoming truly viable for the first time in its history.

By Cars UK