Relaunched electric four-door will pack 700 lb-ft of torque.
With everything Aston Martin has going on these days, it'd be all too easy to forget about the Rapide. But the automaker hasn't. In fact it's gearing up to relaunch the four-door as its first fully electric vehicle.
Previewed in concept form back in 2015, the Rapide E is now slated to enter production towards the end of 2019. And in confirming its intent, Aston has revealed some rather juicy details – not the least of them the twin electric motors that will combine to deliver over 610 metric horsepower and 700 lb-ft of torque.
That's more than any internal-combustion version of the four-door sports car to date, whose 6.0-liter naturally aspirated V12 produces as much as 603 hp and 465 lb-ft of torque in the latest AMR spec. With even more muscle on tap, the Rapide E is projected to reach 60 in under four seconds, run from 50-70 mph in just 1.5 seconds, and top out at 155 mph. All the while it aims to deliver over 200 miles of range under the Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure. To reach its goals, Aston is working with Williams Advanced Engineering to fit an 800-volt battery array producing 65 kWh.
Pirelli is developing a unique set of P Zero tires, Integral Powertrain is working on the electric motor, and Xtrac the transmission – to name just a few of the partners the British automaker is teaming up with on the project.
“Environmental responsibility and sustainability is a global challenge faced by us all,” said Aston's CEO Andy Palmer. “As our first all-electric production model, Rapide E will fast-track our knowledge and help us ensure the character and high-performance capabilities of our future EV models and enhance the unique qualities found in all Aston Martins as we know them today.”
Aston is slated to begin producing a limited run of 155 examples of the Rapide E in the fourth quarter of 2019 at St Athan – the facility which the automaker is currently converting from a military base in Wales. The site was already confirmed to produce the DBX crossover, but has now been announced as the hub for both Aston's electric-vehicle program and its forthcoming relaunch of the Lagonda marque as an electric luxury brand. St Athan will become the third site to produce the Rapide, following its earlier assembly by Magna Steyr in Austria and Gaydon in England.
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