Published: May 17, 2012

Aston Martin Doesn’t Want to Be Left Out; Lagonda SUV Still Alive

Slow sales of their sports cars in the Far East is forcing Aston Martin to build a SUV.

Before Bentley debuted what they thought was a good-looking SUV at the Geneva Motor Show last March, Aston Martin revealed their own SUV concept at the same event back in 2009. Called the Lagonda, it also received a mixed response from the public and press. For a while after its debut, not a whole lot was said about it and it seemed that the British automaker had moved on from the idea. However, it appears now that Aston is returning to the project because of market forces.

Aston Martin Doesn’t Want to Be Left Out; Lagonda SUV Still Alive

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According to a report coming from UK website Autocar, Aston boss Dr. Ulrich Bez recently said that an updated Lagonda concept will be revealed "in the coming year." We're assuming their motivation for this was that Bentley SUV concept, which indicates that competition is beginning to brew in the uber luxury SUV market. Remember, Lamborghini is also keen to jump into the mix as they also recently revealed their Urus concept. Another reason that Aston Martin is serious about a SUV this time is that they need to support struggling sales of their GT cars, such as the DB9 and DBS in China.

China is a main sales target because luxury SUVs are wildly popular. For whatever reason(s), the Chinese haven't been buying those Aston GT cars as much as the automaker predicted, but a future SUV will surely not only help sales but also brand equity in the world's fastest growing car market. We'll likely see a new Aston Martin SUV concept at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show.