Aston Rapide interior exposed

Aston Martin's four-door Rapide is due to debut at next month's Frankfurt motor show, but this leaked image (said to be scanned from an official brochure) has prematurely exposed the car's interior.

As per its Porsche Panamera archrival, the Rapide features a pair of individual bucket seats in the rear, and these are separated by a console with cupholders and an iDrive-style knob to control the HVAC and entertainment system settings.

Facing each of the rear-seat passengers is a DVD screen housed within the front seatbacks.

It's hard to discern exactly how much rear-seat legroom is on offer, but the Rapide's 5m length and circa-3m wheelbase suggest backseat dwellers shouldn't fare too badly. That said, the company itself had earlier stated the seats were fit for "children or two adults on shorter journeys".

Boot capacity looks to be better than that offered by the likes of the DB9 (it seems large enough to swallow a full-size golf bag) and there's provision for toting a set of skis.

The interior design philosophy doesn't appear to deviate too far from Aston's existing style manual, and the driver is enveloped by the familiar three-spoke steering wheel and flowing centre console.

There's ample use of metallic finishes, and the car pictured here is trimmed in contrasting two-tone leather upholstery, with the lighter shade matching the exterior paintwork.

Aston Martin had earlier confirmed the rear-drive Rapide will be powered by a 350kW/600Nm version of its existing 6.0-litre V12 and -- despite the car's substantial heft (it's said to weigh about 1950kg) -- it should offer performance to all but match the twin-turbo 4.8-litre Panamera Turbo. Euro sources are tipping a sub-five-second 0-100km/h split and top whack of 290km/h.

The engine is mated to what's billed as a "highly responsive Touchtronic (six-speed ZF auto) gearbox", and the car is underpinned by a stretched version of the VH (Vertical/Horizontal) extruded aluminium chassis used by the DB9.

There's no official word as yet on price positioning, but expect the Rapide to command a premium over the Panamera, which ranges from $270k to $365k.

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