Happenings

The Aston Martin DBX arrives in Singapore

BY Marcus Lim

Want something sportier than a Cullinan or Bentayga? Great news – order books for the DBX are now open!`

Since it was unveiled globally back in November 2019, buyers here in Singapore were kept in anticipation over the arrival of the Aston Martin DBX, the marque’s first-ever SUV.
It’s a model of many firsts; not just the marque’s first SUV, but also the first model to be built at Aston Martin’s brand-new manufacturing facility in St Athan, Wales.

For the brand typically associated with fictional super-spy James Bond, a large, high-riding SUV seems a bit out of character – or is it? With the DBX, Aston Martin aims to combine the versatility expected of a luxury SUV, with sports car levels of dynamic performance.

As it is, 70 percent of Aston Martin customers already own an SUV (or three); it thus makes sense that the company simply take the final step of converting their existing SUV to a DBX. It also serves as an excellent proposition for existing owners who love to drive their Vantage or DB11, but occasionally prefer being driven.

The current ownership base is mostly male, but that’s expected to change with the introduction of the DBX. The combination of performance, style, and usability is expected to reach far more female owners, many of which are new to the Aston Martin brand. So serious they are about it, that a Female Advisory Board had been set up to provide design input and suggestions during development for the DBX.

Despite looking anything like its stablemates, the DBX is touted to still have the soul of a sports car. Built upon a new, dedicated SUV platform, the DBX is constructed with bonded aluminium, resulting in a lightweight yet incredibly stiff body structure. Meanwhile, the exceptional stiffness inherent in the design of the new platform has also enabled the DBX to achieve exceptional dynamics both on and off-road.

Inside the DBX, occupants enjoy a spacious and comfortable environment. Sitting on luxurious full grain leather seats, everyone inside the DBX gets generous amounts of headroom and legroom. To add to the sense of spaciousness, there’s a full-length glass panoramic roof and frameless door glass.

A huge 12.3-inch TFT screen provides crucial information for the driver, while a 10.25-inch TFT screen sits in the centre console. Apple CarPlay comes as standard, as does a 360-degree camera system and ambient lighting that offers 64 different colours in two zones.

Practicality and versatility is the DBX’s party trick, thus it offers 40:20:40 split folding rear seats and a class-leading 632 litres of boot space.

Moving the DBX along is a new version of the 4.0-litre, twin-turbocharged V8 found in the DB11 and Vantage, with 542bhp and 700Nm of torque. Transmitting this power and torque to the ground is a nine-speed torque converter automatic gearbox, mated to an all-wheel drive system with active differentials. This combination is good for a 4.5 second 0 to 100km/h sprint, on to a top speed of 291km/h.

The DBX is now available for public viewing and test drives at the Aston Martin Singapore showroom on Leng Kee Road.