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Aston Martin Considers Smaller Engines

By William Maley

· 2,861 views

William Maley

Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com

July 19, 2012

With the advent of ever-tightening fuel economy and emission standards, no automaker is safe, not even boutique luxury automakers like Aston Martin.

Consider this, besides the Aston Martin Cygnet which is a Scion iQ in drag, the rest of the Aston Martin lineup comes with either a V8 or V12 engines. Aston Martin has reduced the emissions of its engines by 25% over the past six years, but that might not be enough.

Aston Martin head Ulrich Bez recently revealed to Autocar the company is open to downsizing their engines.

“The job is not complete. Four or even three cylinders are possible. If the spirit of the times demands six cylinders, then it has to be looked at.”

However, if a move like that was done, Bez said it would “never undermine exclusivity. We must stay special”.

Source: Autocar

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected] or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

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    Grand Master

    G. David Felt

    Members

    Last line says it all, Aston Martin is all about luxury and performance, a 3 or 4 banger engine will not get people to spend the money on the label. I would say a strong turbo 4 or better 6 to compete against the M3 or ATS-V would be a smart move.

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    • Newbie

    ZL-1

    Members
    Last line says it all, Aston Martin is all about luxury and performance, a 3 or 4 banger engine will not get people to spend the money on the label. I would say a strong turbo 4 or better 6 to compete against the M3 or ATS-V would be a smart move.

    Aston Martin's positioning is quite a bit above M3 and ATS-V territory...

  • Quote
    • Grand Master

    G. David Felt

    Members
    Last line says it all, Aston Martin is all about luxury and performance, a 3 or 4 banger engine will not get people to spend the money on the label. I would say a strong turbo 4 or better 6 to compete against the M3 or ATS-V would be a smart move.

    Aston Martin's positioning is quite a bit above M3 and ATS-V territory...

    Not if they want to have a fuel efficient car to protect their top end auto's. Building a ATS-V or M3 competitor that runs on a Twin Scroll Twin Turbo V6 to help push up their cafe numbers would be a smart move.

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    • Grand Master

    G. David Felt

    Members

    Now is the time for them to go crazy with engine tech to make the worlds most awesome 4-cylinder.

    I wonder if you could do a crazy twin scroll twin turbo on a 4 banger with cold air intake! Then drop a NOS tank on it for an added boost! :P

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    • Mentor

    smk4565

    Members

    I think a 5 liter V12 would be a nice downsized engine. A V8 is as small as they need to go, it's an Aston Martin, it is supposed to have a big powerful engine. Although they did have a lot of straight sixes over the years too.

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    • Enthusiast

    William Maley

    Editor

    I think a 5 liter V12 would be a nice downsized engine. A V8 is as small as they need to go, it's an Aston Martin, it is supposed to have a big powerful engine. Although they did have a lot of straight sixes over the years too.

    Yeah, the last straight-six was built in 1998 if I remember correctly.

  • Quote
    • Newbie

    ZL-1

    Members
    Last line says it all, Aston Martin is all about luxury and performance, a 3 or 4 banger engine will not get people to spend the money on the label. I would say a strong turbo 4 or better 6 to compete against the M3 or ATS-V would be a smart move.

    Aston Martin's positioning is quite a bit above M3 and ATS-V territory...

    Not if they want to have a fuel efficient car to protect their top end auto's. Building a ATS-V or M3 competitor that runs on a Twin Scroll Twin Turbo V6 to help push up their cafe numbers would be a smart move.

    I don't think that's where Ulrich Bez was going with the statement. To me he was talking about downsizing engine size without going downmarket.

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