Aston Martin teases reborn Lagonda's first SUV

Independent British sportscar maker Aston Martin has confirmed it will reinvent the long-dormant Lagonda brand as a zero-emissions line.

As it hinted at March’s Geneva motor show, it will kick off its production future in 2021 with an all-electric Lagonda SUV, which will be the template for all future Lagonda-branded cars.

It’s a cunningly timed piece of news from Aston Martin, with Rolls-Royce scheduled to officially unveil its own debut SUV, the Cullinan, tomorrow.

Aston has stopped short of calling Lagonda a dedicated battery-electric brand, instead dubbing it “emissions-free” to possibly include a future hydrogen fuel-cell powertrain.

“In reviving one of the most iconic names in motoring we have created a unique opportunity. One that allows us to cast aside an inherited 20th century approach and instead design cars around 21st century demands and desires,” Aston Martin President and Chief Executive Officer, Dr Andy Palmer, said.

“The Lagonda SUV is the first of its kind: a spacious, high-performance 4x4 that successfully reconciles a love of technology, luxury and style"

Aston Martin has owned the once-iconic Lagonda brand since 1947, though it dates back to 1906. It built a very limited edition run of Lagonda Taraf limousines in 2014, but prior to that its last use of the Lagonda badge was on the wildly optimistic, electrically troubled, wedge-shaped Aston Martin Lagonda that ran from 1976 to 1989.

The upcoming Lagonda SUV will retain the dramatic, polarising styling of the Vision Concept from the Geneva show, giving it another significant point of separation from the more classical sportscar proportions Aston Martin owners are so fond of.

“The Lagonda SUV will retain the boldness of the Vision Concept,” Aston Martin executive vice-president and Chief Creative Officer, Marek Reichmann, said.

“Lagonda is a luxury brand, but it is also one rooted in technology. It will be like no other SUV to drive, so its looks have to reflect that new reality and to serve as pathfinder to a future in which the most desirable and prestigious automobiles still have a place."

There is no mention of the self-driving capability of the upcoming Lagonda, even though autonomy was such a core part of the Geneva concept.