LEAK! - Aston Martin Rapide appears for the first time

After Aston Martin was sold by Ford, many may have feared for the future of the brand, but it has demonstrated to be very capable of taking care of itself. One of the better proofs it has given is the development of a new four-door coupe, the Rapide, which has been photographed several times in tests around the world. Anyway, the pictures below have not been taken by any spy photographer, but by Aston Martin. The company has taken them, but has not released them, or else, these pictures have leaked and Autocar was the first one to share them with us.



Scheduled to be introduced at this years's Geneva Motor Show, the car is built over the DB9 platform, which has been stretched in 25.5 cm. This leads the car to be 5 m long. It is also 6.3 cm higher than DB9, what makes it have a good head room for its back passengers.

Power will come from the 6-litre V12 already in use by Aston Martin, but with more power, 480 bhp, mated to a ZF six-speed automatic transmission with Touchtronic control. Since the car weighs around 1,940 kg, it is expected to go from 0 to 96 km/h in 4.5 s. Top speed is expected to exceed 290 km/h and the price tag will be around 140,000 pounds, or else, it will be priced between DB9 and DBS.



Source: AutoCar