The Aston Martin DBX has gained a touchscreen and is now available exclusively in top-rung 707 guise, dropping the lower-powered 542bhp version of its twin-turbo V8.
The move to a one-engine offering comes in response to the success of the 697bhp range-topper, which accounted for around two-thirds of DBX sales in 2023 and is running at about 90% so far in 2024.
Aston Martin has also removed the mild-hybrid straight-six DBX from sale in the Chinese market, citing rapid shifts in market demand for such powertrains. It has no immediate plans to offer an electrified variant globally.
Due to begin deliveries in May with a 5-10% price uplift taking it to around £210,000, the revised DBX now has essentially the same cockpit arrangement as the DB12 and Vantage, doing away with the dated Mercedes-based set-up that it has had since 2020.
In its place is a new 10.25in touchscreen sited in the middle of the ‘waterfall’- shaped centre stack. It runs Aston’s bespoke infotainment platform, with smartphone mirroring included as standard and a suite of SUV-specific features added, such as hill descent control.
The revamp does away with the four individual drive select buttons atop the dashboard in favour of a toggle-style shifter in the centre console.
It also swaps the digital gauge cluster for a larger, 12.3in screen. Buttons and switches abound, though, which head of product management Neil Hughes told Autocar is in a bid to avoid drivers “fumbling around” to adjust certain settings on the move and to give quick access to the most commonly used features.
Hughes said Aston Martin has reached “peak touchscreen” and keeping a range of physical controls will remain important because that approach “lends itself to craftsmanship”. A raft of more subtle tweaks round off the interior overhaul.
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Frameless door mirrors. That'll be the new trend amongst car manufacturers.
What a shame the engine isn't as bespoke as the new infortaintment system. A company producing the volume of cars Aston does should not be buying in 3rd party engines. It'd be a different story if Aston was part of the Mercedes Group. You wouldn't see Ferrari bringing in someone else's engines.
LoL! Who's driving this thinking to themselves "it's fabulous but that engine just doesn't feel like an Aston Martin engine"?
Much improved layout of the dash, much needed too. Awful looking vents stay. This is more like the DB12's layout should be with the centre display higher, not hidden.
That Reichman needs more goes to get closer to a decent looking car proves he's not fit to be Aston's designer. He has to go. Too many disappointments from Reichman to be trusted yet again with their future.
I'd still have the Range Rover Sport SV over this any day of the week. It's just better looking.