Aston in re-establishing Lagonda is trying a tried, but maybe no longer true, SUV sales strategy.
Porsche had a sales hit with the Cayenne. Even as purists sneered, it doubled sales. Aston is trying the same SUV approach with its Lagonda concept introduced at Geneva. Whether it’s derivative or daring will ultimately be decided by punters. Big spenders in 100 countries are targeted when it appears in 2012 for what will likely be a +$200,000 asking price. Included in the planned comeback is a return to Russia, where Lagonda – a British company established and owned by an American — had its first successes more than 100 years ago. Lagonda was the Indian name of a creek in Ohio near founder Wilbur Gunn’s birthplace.
“The Lagonda is the luxury car of the future,” says Aston Martin Lagonda Chief Executive, Dr Ulrich Bez, “a combination of total usability, a new form and innovative new technology and materials.”
Marek Reichman has come up with an expressive design that's decidely not a sports car.
The question is whether this really is the future, or an attempt return to a past when SUVs were in demand, but have now fallen far, far from favor. It’s true the potential markets are much larger than the three dozen or so that Aston sells V-8 and V-12 sports cars into. At stake are 2000-3000 jobs in the industry, and the survival of a marque that’s been in and out of production under numerous owners since its founding.
Aston instituted cutbacks in the United Kingdom at the end of last year, and is in discussion with its trade unions on the possible elimination of up to 300 permanent and 300 temporary jobs if the economy doesn’t revive soon.
An earlier Lagonda.
Technology is promised, including the use of flex-fuels, as well as diesel and hybrid powertrains. The Lagonda Concept displayed is a four-wheel-drive, four-seat SUV derived it’s thought from the Mercedes GL platform. The company says Lagonda will “epitomize the intersection of craft, design and technology with Aston Martin’s established high performance expertise.” That probably translates to V-12 power and some sort of high tech all-wheel-drive system that will compete with the already formidable ones on the market from Porsche, Mercedes-Benz and BMW, among others. Still, it would be refreshing to see a Lagonda run in the desert at Baja, as a compliment to Aston’s ongoing racing successes at LeMans.
“An Aston Martin demands to be driven. A Lagonda demands a destination,” says Betz.
Let’s hope that destnation is not a dead end.