Aston Martin Rapide E won't make it to production, report says
It'll instead serve as a testbed for research.
Aston Martin Rapide E, we hardly knew ye. According to a report from Autocar on Friday, the battery-electric sedan is no longer meant for production.
Why the British firm had the change of heart is unclear, though the report speculates it could have something to do with an "all hands on deck" approach to launching the DBX SUV. Aston Martin declined to comment for this story and didn't specify how many orders it'd received for the limited-run electric car. Originally, the company planned to build 155 of them.
It's not a final farewell to the Rapide E, though. The report says Aston Martin will instead use the car as a testbed for future electrification technologies. Quite honestly, the Rapide E would likely not have been the best luxury EV, since its platform was never intended to house a big battery and electric motors. The standard Rapide features a 5.9-liter V12 engine and has been in production for years now.
The electric Rapide E was supposed to outdo its internal-combustion-engined counterpart, however. It was meant to sport 601 horsepower and 701 pound-feet of torque -- increases of 50 hp and 235 lb-ft. Range estimates pegged the car to go around 200 miles on WLTP standards, which likely would have been even lower on the more conservative EPA test cycle.
Ending the pursuit of the Rapide E may also have something to do with Lagonda. The revived marque under Aston Martin will be an all-electric luxury division, and perhaps the Rapide E would have stepped on the brand's resources. We won't know for sure until Aston Martin is ready to share more.
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