Lagonda returns with a stunning electric concept
It’s a great name, synonymous with idiosyncratic luxury and decadent, dramatic design. Now Lagonda’s back with the all-electric anti-SUV. By Jake Groves
‘ WE SEE NO LIMITS for Lagonda. It will be a brand for the restless.’ So says the ambitious Aston CEO Andy Palmer, on the reveal of this truly stunning concept from Aston Martin’s ultra-luxurious sub-brand. This is the Lagonda Vision Concept; the latest in the chequered yet very illustrious history of the British marque. But this isn’t an old-school, diamond-encrusted, V12-powered Liberace-mobile. Oh no, this is a pure electric, very sophisticated grand tourer.
‘The Lagonda Vision Concept is an incredibly bold design statement,’ says Aston’s chief creative officer Marek Reichman. ‘While Aston Martin design language can be seen as organic and natural, that of Lagonda is more sculptural, shocking and challenging,’ he adds.
We won’t disagree. The Vision Concept may be a saloon, but the silhouette is rakishly tapered, with a low front end, shallow glasshouse and a pinched rear like a low-slung coupe. At the very least it’s unlike much else we’ve seen before from AML, and while Lagonda’s last car, the Taraf, was a very contemporary design, this Vision Concept takes that to a whole new level.
The car derives much of its structural strength from the floor, allowing the concept to use huge doors. The rears are suicide and, on opening them, a section of the roof tilts so that passengers can climb in without having to duck their heads.
The Vision Concept combines cutting-edge materials with some you’d not expect to see inside a car. Reichman is a huge fan of English furniture designer David Linley, whose help he enlisted in the design of the Lagonda concept’s cockpit. Carbonfibre trim sits next to ceramic tiles used as4
The Lagonda uses technology to enhance the
luxury experience
ventilation apertures and controls for the audio. Silk carpets and cashmere textiles partner with hand-woven and heavily bolstered wool armchairs. The devil is in the hexagonal details, though. The six-sided steering wheel folds away, allowing the cantilevered front seats to swivel and create a lounge-like environment. There’s an intricate gold sculpture filled with layered hexagons that wraps around a small screen between the rear seats and a hexagon graphic in the stretching light cluster inset into the roof lining.
Yes, there is still a steering wheel, but the Vision Concept is equipped for Level 4 autonomy. (You know, Level 4: the one that allows the car to drive itself within certain restricted areas.) ‘We imagine most Lagonda customers choose to be driven,’ says Palmer. ‘If they want to drive themselves, the car will ensure that is a delightful and memorable experience, too – Lagonda will provide that choice.’
Want some specs? Lagonda says the Vision Concept uses a set of solid-state batteries built into the floorpan; they can be wirelessly charged in 15 minutes. That might seem like a pipe dream in 2018, but wireless charging technology is gathering pace and should be a reality for cars in the next decade. The batteries also allow for a ‘real world’ range of around 400 miles, the rough distance between London and Edinburgh, LA and San Francisco or Berlin to Vienna.
But other than the autonomous tech, Palmer points out that the Vision Concept uses technology to enhance the luxury experience, rather than just cramming it in for the sake of it.
‘If you look at the most modern, technologically advanced cars on the market, they are defined by their technologies,’ he says, ‘By contrast, Lagonda will be entirely strategic in its approach to tech, using it as a means to achieve its goal of creating the world’s first ultra-luxury cars and never as an end in itself.’
Aston Martin wants Lagonda to be more than just a name it irregularly slaps on a fancy new model once a decade. The Vision Concept isn’t just a look into the future of luxury transport, but one that it hopes will be the catalyst for Lagonda to become a brand in its own right once again, designing and building its own line of high-end luxury cars.
Lagonda says this sensational Vision Concept will become a production reality in 2021, while a coupe and SUV could follow in 2023.