Geneva Motor Show 2015: Aston shows shock electric DBX concept

Aston Martin has hit the Geneva Motor Show with an electric car that will prove one of the day’s biggest surprises: the DBX Concept.

In Aston’s words, the concept “challenges the nature of luxury GT travel in the 21^st Century,” and is the company’s first all-electric, all-wheel drive car.

Revealing the concept, which the company had kept surprisingly secret in the run up to the show, Aston Martin CEO Dr Andy Palmer said: “The DBX Concept is a challenge to the existing status quo in the high luxury GT segment. It envisages a world, perhaps a world not too far away, when luxury GT travel is not only stylish and luxurious but also more practical, more family-friendly and more environmentally responsible.”

Beyond the utopian hyperbole is a two-door zero emissions concept car that seats four and has luggage spaces both front and rear. 

Aston is singing from the usual concept car hymn sheet by talking of the DBX as a glimpse of the company’s future design direction, but more significant is Dr Andy’s claim that the company will “be entering a car into the DBX space” in due course. That space, presumably, is the shape of a high-riding GT with electric drive and a price tag that puts it out of reach of the masses.

The drivetrain comprises four electric motors, one in each wheel, each powered by a lithium sulphur cell pack. A kinetc energy recovery system (KERS) reclaims ‘lost’ energy to recharge the batteries, and the brakes are carbon ceramic.

Designed and built at Aston’s Gaydon HQ, the DBX is painted in a pearlescent colour that’s supposed to mimic the finish of black pearl by using a micro-thin coating of chrome, while the brightwork at the front and sides is of machined bilet aluminium.

Inside, the Nubuck leather upholstery is inspired by high-end furniture and the aluminium accents are finished with gold pinstriping at the edges. Both the driver and the passenger get a head-up display each, and the glass has auto-dimming properties.

Aston is using the DBX Concept only to confirm that it will create an eco-friendly GT at some stage, so don’t expect a production version of the car to be discussed for a good couple of years yet.