Aston Martin Rapide E aborted

Aston Martin has cancelled plans to launch its battery-powered Rapide E limousine, which was confirmed for production back in 2017.

Originally, the British sports car-maker said it would make just 155 examples of the Rapide EV, which were to be sold to a select number of hand-picked owners for an undisclosed price.

Now, according to Autocar, those plans have been scrapped and Aston Martin will instead focus its resources on the launch of the DBX SUV – a model it hopes will turn around its dire financial situation. Aston Martin's share price has plunged 80 per cent since the car-maker first went public back in 2018.

It's not clear how many Rapide Es had been sold but Aston boss, Andy Palmer, had declared that the first Aston EV would become a public research project that would be used to determine how the famous sports car-maker would pursue electrification in the future.

Earlier this week Aston announced an unexpected profit warning and revealed it was in discussions with "potential strategic investors". Since then it's now been reported that both Chinese car-making giant Geely and F1 team owner Lawrence Stroll are both planning to invest in the struggling car-maker.