Aston Martin banking on hybrid future

By 2025, Aston Martin's entire model line-up will come with either a hybrid or full pure-electric powertrain.

The claim comes from company CEO Andy Palmer, who told the Financial Times: "We will be 100 per cent hybrid by the middle of 2020s".

Palmer's comments label the British prestige specialist as the first automotive brand to declare every model will have an electrified powertrain.

He went further and revealed that, by 2030, around a quarter of Aston Martin's production will be pure-electric vehicles.

Volvo recently made a similar claim, announcing that from 2019 every car it introduces will have an electrified powertrain. However, on closer scrutiny, Aston's announcement goes further as the Swedish brand will still manufacture non-hybrid models as it transitions to electrified engines.

As part of the interview, Palmer confirmed the first pure-electric Aston Martin, the RapidE -- based on the Rapide sports sedan -- was on track to launch in 2019.

There were concerns for the RapidE recently, when Aston's Chinese partner co-developing its pure-electric super sedan hit financial difficulties.

A pure-electric version of Aston Martin's forthcoming DBX is scheduled to go on sale in 2021.

In the future, the Mercedes-AMG 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8 is tipped to come with 48-volt mild hybrid technology, but Palmer was keen to stress that some of the hybrid tech for Aston Martin will be developed in-house.

"You need to keep core technology inside the company," he told the FT. "That's why we make our own V12 engine. We believe that EVs are a core technology, and therefore we want to do them ourselves."