NEW YORK MOTOR SHOW: All-electric Aston Rapide

British sports car maker Aston Martin is just two to three years away from delivering an all-electric Rapide.

Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer said it was looking to deliver a 750kW, battery-electric version of its cramped four-door sedan – or its successor – and will be mainly aimed at the US and Chinese markets.

The news from an enthusiastic Palmer could mark a turning point in Aston Martin’s recent history – a point where it moves from a technology-starved maker of gorgeously crafted shapes to a sports car brand that can look any car-maker in the eye when conversations turn to powertrains.

He plans to deliver Aston Martin the option to deliver full-electric powertrains to all of its models in the medium term, but it will all start with the luxurious Rapide, whose performance numbers have tended to belie its nameplate.

Palmer is trying to deliver the electric version of the Rapide to the UK market for around $A320,000, or £200,000, complete with the all-wheel drive he says the extra performance will deliver.

“This project is borne out of fun and born out of necessity,” Palmer said at the New York motor show.

“Electric power gives us the performance we want, although you won’t have a V12 noise, you’ll have something that works just as well for a luxury vehicle: silence.

“And you’ll have zero emissions.”

Palmer hinted at the electric Rapide during the Geneva motor show in March, insisting Aston Martin needed electric power for some models to protect the V12s in the pure sports cars in the family.

Even with all-wheel drive, Palmer doubts there will be a massive difference in weight between the V12- and electric-powered Rapides, with the battery packs sitting in the transmission tunnel and under the bonnet, the inverter beneath the boot floor and electric motors on both axles.

Palmer says Aston Martin’s push into electric fast luxury cars has been helped by its liaison with a well-known British engineering consultancy, with a Rapide already reconfigured with its engine and powertrain removed and dummy batteries and electric motors fitted.

Besides its electric Rapide, Aston is also using a multi-million pound government grant to develop an export-focused long-wheelbase version of the Rapide, based around the Lagonda Taraf concept car’s underpinnings.