Exotic four-door saloon gains over 40hp of power and comes with a host of chassis improvements.
Hasn’t it expired yet?
No it hasn’t. The Rapide has become the second model from Aston Martin to gain the AMR treatment hot on the heels of the DB11 AMR.
Now in its eighth year of production, Aston’s four-door saloon is hoping to look young again with a spicy series of visual and mechanical enhancements.
As previewed in a concept model last year, the Rapide AMR sports an aggressive-looking front grille with Zagato-inspired circular fog lights.
Like in the pumped-up DB11, there’s more carbonfibre trim in the cabin where an exterior-matching colour can be found, as well.
Aston Martin says just 210 units of the Rapide AMR will be made with first deliveries set in the final quarter of this year. It costs similarly to the DB11 AMR, at some 27 million baht if imported to Thailand.
Does it get that AMG V8?
Nope. The Rapide AMR uses the same 6.0-litre naturally aspirated V12 as in the Rapide S. With some mods here and there, power of that 12-pot stalwart has risen from 560hp to 603hp. Torque, meanwhile, remains the same at 630Nm.
Despite an increase of over 40hp, the 0-100kph acceleration time in the Rapide AMR is still the same at 4.4sec. It probably appears that Aston wants to focus more on the sportier driving experience.
Chassis tweaks include bigger 21-inch wheels housing carbon-ceramic disc brakes and 10mm lower ride height. The eight-speed torque-converter automatic is also claimed to be recalibrated for a more dynamic drive.
Might as well just wait for the green version…
If you’ve meant an all-electric version, yes, Aston is planning to round off the current generation of the Rapide with a pure EV.
Due to go on sale next year, the so-called RapidE has once been teased in prototype form and could serve as a test bed for EV technology, likely to also be seen in a Lagonda-badged saloon by 2022.
The RapidE is set to see some fierce competition in 2019. Porsche has just confirmed that its all-electric saloon will be called Taygan which is largely based on the Mission E concept car with a driving range of at least 500km.
