More Details emerge on Aston Martin’s 488 Rival

Aston Martin is on a roll. Along with the Valkyrie Hypercar and Vanquish replacement coming up, it also plans to add a mid-engined supercar to rival the likes of Ferrari 488 and Mclaren 720S to its lineup. Until now, we didn’t know much about the car. But now, Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer has provided some interesting details on the development of the new car to AutoBlog.

Palmer has set his eyes on the 488 GTB as the car’s main rival. He believes the 488 is currently the best car in the segment and Aston will try to one up Ferrari with their new model. “That (488 GTB) is the best car in its segment. And we’re going to take it on. And I realize the gravity of that statement, of what that means.” said Palmer.

The often outspoken CEO isn’t joking when he claims to beat Ferrari’s supercar at its own game. To start off, Aston Martin has already poached three of Ferrari’s key people including Max Szwaj, former head of innovation and body structures at Ferrari and Maserati. Szwaj has been named vice president and chief technical officer in his new role in Gaydon. Another key person , Joerg Ross, formerly head of advanced engines at Ferrari and Maserati, assumes the chief engineer, powertrain, role at Aston. Identity of the third recruit hasn’t been announced.

While no information about the powertrain specs or performance was revealed, the supercar will borrow elements from the Valkyrie. Palmer also updated on the design part saying that eight quarter scale clay models of the car have already been developed. One of the which has been been preferred by the CEO and sent to the Milton Keynes studio for further development.

The mid-engined car will join the DBX as Aston’s all new model and will be unveiled in 2019, just in time when the 488 GTB replacement is set to be revealed.

“I’ve got a pretty good idea of what the replacement for the 488 is going to be like as well. So, if we’re going in that market, we need to be ahead of the 488. And there’s no naïveté about what that means.” Palmer concluded.

Source: Autoblog