GENEVA MOTOR SHOW: Aussie-proof Aston DB11

Aston Martin tested its new DB11 coupe in Australia, but when first deliveries take place late this year the DB9 replacement will lack almost all of the key active safety aids seen in its rivals.

Despite this, Aston says it has already booked more than 1000 pre-orders globally and pricing will increase by more than $60,000 over the DB9 to about a cool $430,000 – within $50,000 of the top-shelf Vanquish.

"We will be announcing pricing closer to the first Australian deliveries, which will occur in the fourth quarter of the year," said Aston Martin's Australian and New Zealand regional manager Kevin Wall.

"However, for a guide we anticipate a DB11 at launch will be in the vicinity of $430,000. This will be confirmed later in the year."

For reference, the DB9 it replaces was last priced at $368,500.

The most significant new Aston Martin since the DB9 in 2003 will, thanks to its use of Daimler electrical architecture, come with a 12.0-inch TFT instrument display, 8.0-inch central display screen controlled by a Mercedes-sourced infotainment controller and touch-sensitive panel, LED headlights, 400-Watt sound and keyless entry/start.

There's even Benz's single control stalk for both indicators and windscreen wipers and ISOFIX child seat anchors, plus options including a powered armrest, 360-degree camera system, automated parking and 1000-Watt Bang and Olufsen sound.

However, there are none of the new advanced driver aids now common in city cars, including automatic emergency braking, forward collision alert, radar cruise control, lane departure warning (let alone assistance), blind spot monitoring or rear cross-traffic alert.

Aston Martin product development chief Ian Minnards confirmed such features would not be fitted to the first product launched under the company's 'Second Century' plan from launch, but said they may be added to the DB11's specs list down the track.

"Absolutely, active safety is something we need to look at," he told motoring.com.au in Geneva.

"We don't have lane departure warning, radar cruise control or auto high-beam, but that doesn't mean it won't get it. Of course we'll look at it. In terms of autonomous driving features there's a long way to go."

The first turbocharged Aston and the most powerful DB ever, however, won't lack for performance.

Under its pedestrian-friendly clamshell bonnet lurks a brand-new 447kW/700Nm 5.2-litre twin-turbo V12 driving a rear-mounted eight-speed torque converter automatic transmission and a mechanical limited-slip rear differential with active torque vectoring.

Built on a new bonded aluminium platform with a mix of aluminium and composite panels, the DB11 weighs 1770kg dry and is claimed to hit 100km/h in 3.9 seconds on its way to a top speed of 322km/h.

Minnards said the clean-sheet chassis design incorporates all of Aston's bonded aluminium learnings over the past 17 years, and delivers 34kN/degree torsional stiffness – 40 per cent more than the DB9, as well as 25 per cent greater bending stiffness and a 30kg lighter body in white.

A verification prototype notched up three weeks and 9000km in the Australian Outback to test the car's heating, ventilation and climate systems in January, as part of the DB11's development program that also included cold testing in Finland, high-speed testing at Nardo and Mira, and crash testing with Volvo in Sweden.

More hot testing will take place in Death Valley, USA, before production commences in the UK in August.