Aston Martin Rapide spied in full production form

Aston Martin Rapide Spied in Full Production Form

By Thami Masemola
December 18, 2008 10:56 PM
Filed Under: Aston Martin, European, Spy Photos

Our spies have now caught the Aston Martin Rapide almost precisely as it will look when it is launched in 2009. It's seen here wearing two different rim types, probably as a visual test but also as a performance test. We can see the typically c-shaped Aston Martin rear lights, tailpipes, front grille as well as the rest of the front end quite clearly. But Aston saw it fit to hide rear wheel arches up to the C-pillar area.

The Rapide is Aston Martin's attempt at luring the family man who also has sporting aspirations. A four-door, 2+2 seater configuration is adopted in a similar fashion to the Mercedes-Benz CLS where four individual seats are fitted instead of two upfront and a bench-type seat at the back. Cars like the Porsche Panamera, recently spied BMW CS-based sports sedan and the CLS will be on the Rapide's radar. At a slightly higher level a possible Lamborghini Estoque is also a competitor.

Lately stories of one of Aston's major shareholders looking to sell its stake in the company have surfaced. For now that possibility doesn't look like it will affect the Rapide's development.

 

Comments

giga_games
December 18, 2008 11:34 PM
Beautiful, but its just a longer db9

Tuner_Mad
December 18, 2008 11:59 PM
DB9 front, V8 vantage rear, and 4 doors in the middle. AM were smart with this idea.

BabyMilo
December 19, 2008 12:00 AM
looks amazing, but abit standard AM bit of a shame i guess, but still amzaing

gur
December 19, 2008 12:06 AM
They could have changed the design a bit...

TSLi
December 19, 2008 1:05 AM
Looks a bit too 'cut and shunt' for my liking. Perhaps they could have changed the lights even a little bit.. but I'm sure it'll look stunning in the flesh.

Should be called the DB9 Vantage... yep, thought of that all by myself lol

Murcielago2006
December 19, 2008 4:20 AM
I absolutley don't like it. It looks like a completely different car from every angle. Its a stretched DB9, and the back is just a V8 Vantage. The rear looks really out of place.

Panamera
December 19, 2008 5:04 AM
its rubbish. they just put two doors on the db9 and call it a new car.

boyke69
December 19, 2008 9:39 AM
It is just a longer DB9, but admit it, it looks awesome.

911fnatic
December 19, 2008 12:12 PM
Aston never fail to impress in the looks department but it is a case of nothing new. They could have changed the bumper styling or something for a bit of variety.

radmeister
December 19, 2008 2:57 PM
It's a decent looking car, problem is that in the price range it is and the competition it is facing it's not really a supercar sedan like the Estoque where people would buy it without a care about reliability. I predict that the Panamera and audi RS6 will outsell this 10:1. AM just doesn't have the same reputation as the competition. It's not the driver's car like the porsche, not the king of slippery conditions like the audi, in my eyes it's like a Jag, people that don't care about anything other than style will buy it and that is a VERY limited market right now where people can afford to throw out $ without carefully examining the Pros and Cons of a purchase.

Blackeyes21
December 19, 2008 4:22 PM
It is so so ugly the new Porsche Panamera sedan is more better then this Aston Martin.

GRAVE
December 19, 2008 4:24 PM
beautiful, i like AM cars. Rapid is 2x more expensive than the CLS63 AMG, so i'll rather go for CLS, it's beautiful also and powerful

kimbo
December 19, 2008 6:39 PM
something is wrong with the rear end, Panamera is much much worser than this, but Rapide doesnt look brilliant either. Just 2 different cars melted together, nothing special.

xarlyn
December 20, 2008 1:50 AM
it´s gonna be a beauty car and i think the brand need it to looks a lot better his bussiness-image.

Kieranierston
December 20, 2008 5:36 PM
The front alloys dont match the rear alloys

trailer
December 20, 2008 8:58 PM
Does anyone have an idea about the friction coefficiency of this body?

paula1105
December 20, 2008 10:05 PM
i could watch this thing for hours. god i'm in love with this car.

qwerty-acme
December 21, 2008 5:42 AM
the designers at aston must have no imagination... why can't they make something that looks different... or do that as a optional body kit or something... boring.

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