What Do Aston Martin Buyers Want? Convertibles, More Cylinders, No Charging. – InsideHook

“We’re building more V12s.”

Ask Aston Martin representatives about the company’s road ahead and the cars its boffins have on their drawing boards, and that’s the answer you’ll get. While their rival supercar makers navigate investments in hybrid and fully electric power plants in the age of fading EV mandates, the minds behind Aston Martin say their buyers show no interest in electrons, watts or volts. They want power. They want noise. And they want to burn petroleum to get it.

As the media rollout for the 2025 Aston Martin Vantage Roadster kicked off under the unrelenting sun of Palm Springs, engineers, designers and PR types gathered around the latest Vantage varietal. In the midst of redesigning and reintroducing multiple vehicles in its line over the last several months, Aston initially unveiled the primary 2025 Vantage at a track event in Spain a year ago to demonstrate its performance-centric identity.

Every Aston Martin is designed for an absolutely elite driving experience, but the Vantage is the punky rebel in the family. The Vanquish sits at the head of the table, but it doesn’t stick around long because of its 5.2-liter, 823-horsepower twin-turbo V12 that can do 214 miles per hour. The DBX707 SUV is the parental workhorse, packing a 4.0-liter V8 that offers 697 horsepower. The DB12 is the mature older sibling that already mastered how to blend comfort, sophistication and hustle. 

More than any of its relatives, the Vantage likes to play. Smaller than the DB12 and the Vanquish, it’s as close to an entry-level vehicle as Aston Martin builds with an MSRP of about $191,000 in its original form. It’s less of a grand-touring ride than its fellow Astons and feels lighter, tighter and more vibrant than other coupes.

This new Roadster version differs from the standard Vantage with its soft-top convertible Z-fold roof. That open-air hardware and motor adds a little extra weight, but there’s no loss of joie de vivre. The Vantage Roadster completes the current run of Aston Martin redesigns by adding what’s gleefully the most frivolous machine coming out of Gaydon, U.K.

The Customer Comes First

Of course, not a single vehicle in the year-plus of new designs arrived with an electric motor or hybrid engine. After pledging undying fealty to internal combustion, the informed Aston Martin mouthpieces make it clear why electric vehicles need not apply.

“Our customers show no interest in [EVs or hybrids],” says Kevin Watters. He’s the director of communications at Aston Martin Lagonda, and has the firm’s corporate identity clearly in mind.

“We’re always in close communication with our customers,” he explains. “Often, we’re connecting with them long before a given model is ready for delivery. We want to know what they’re looking for as brand loyalists, and that plays a role in our planning. We have the know-how to produce an EV or hybrid, but we’re just not seeing or hearing the demand for it.” 

The obvious exception to this petroleum addiction is the Aston Martin Valhalla and Valkyrie hypercars. The mid-engine, plug-in hybrid Valhalla is limited to a run of 999 and sits just a tick under the Aston Martin Valkyrie hybrid track car. Those rarer builds demonstrate that the automaker can build electrified vehicles capable of staggering performance if buyers of their more common road vehicles stomp their feet for them.

Obviously, Watters and company can’t speak to what enthusiasts buying Ferraris, Lamborghinis or Koenigseggs want in relation to some nebulous balance of performance and sustainability — but the men and women buying and driving Aston Martins reportedly want the refined violence of the aforementioned V12. That might be because the trendiness of driving an EV is losing its luster in the socio-political ether. It might’ve just been the ongoing state of affairs for Aston Martin customers, regardless of what Elon Musk was up to. Regardless, petrol wins for the Vantage Roadster and its relatives now and for the foreseeable future.

“Emotion and Character”

Ironically, with all this talk of Aston Martin’s ongoing devotion to V12 engines, the new Vantage Roadster doesn’t have one and doesn’t really need one. The two-seater with the ragtop opts for a 4.0-liter, twin-turbo V8 engine developed and built through the British automaker’s ongoing partnership with Mercedes-Benz AMG. That German-U.K. detente produces 656 horsepower  and a reported top speed of 202 mph. With toe down, you’ll hit 60 mph in 3.4 seconds. An eight-speed automatic transmission with sport shifters sends the power to an all-wheel-drive system. As with other Aston Martin builds, Brembo brakes bring it all to a stop.

Simon Newton, the director of vehicle performance at Aston Martin Lagonda, describes the Vantage and its Roadster variant as the company’s purest and most focused sports car.

“In terms of engineering, we just needed to maximize everything [for the Vantage],” Newton says. “We’ve really maximized and created class-leading performance and class-leading dynamics. With this convertible, we allowed no compromise from the coupe model. Our mindset was to create the Roadster as if you were driving the coupe — just with the ability to drop the roof. We don’t prove that with numbers and statistics. We prove it with emotion and character.”

“Emotion” successfully describes the driving experience of settling in behind the wheel of the $205,000 Roadster (losing the hardtop raises the price a bit). The acceleration is immediate and free of any recognizable turbo lag. The handling is surgical with the vehicle feeling eager to go precisely where you intend to send it.

The Vantage and its Roadster offer an improvement over previous versions in the comfort department, too. The Vantage used to be Aston Martin’s roughest model — its sports car-tuned suspension rattling the spine a bit more to keep the driver intimately in touch with the road. The 2025 incarnation has double-wishbone front suspension with coil springs and multi-link rear suspension with adaptive damping to take off any edge of unwelcoming pavement.

As for styling, Aston Martin continues to salute the more mature realm of supercar aesthetics with the Vantage Roadster. The familiar and previously mentioned Italian builds lean into more boastful and showy angles with their splitters, grilles, stabilizers and door panels. While it’s not exactly eager to look like the ass end of a Prius, this Aston Martin Roadster settles into dignified, graceful lines growing from a wide, grounded stance. Extended rear wells flesh out around 21-inch forged alloy wheels. As with the standard Vantage, the Roadster launches from familiar wide, athletic haunches positioned to reduce unsprung weight.

In a nod to the status and attention to hand-hewn detail inherent in the entire Aston Martin lineup, the iconic badge on the bonnet above the frowning grille is made by a U.K. jeweler and set into place with personal care. 

That’s what Aston Martin buyers theoretically want — that uncompromising dedication to detail in aesthetic design and driving performance. What they don’t seem to want is uncompromising dedication to detail in aesthetic design and driving performance with a 90-minute charge time and a whining electric motor in place of throaty cylinders roaring out their signature exhaust notes. 

Time will tell if that’s what other supercar makers will hear from their customers and investors as they wrestle with the complications of the EV era. It’s just clear in the Aston Martin camp that the only green their buyers really get excited about is preceded by “British Racing.”