Geneva: Aston Martin on Tuesday announced plans for a luxury crossover SUV that may draw more heavily on its partnership with Daimler, as the British sports car maker confirmed moves to raise more capital and expand into new vehicle categories.
Aston has secured about 150 million pounds ($230 million) in additional funding, chief executive Andy Palmer said in an interview at the Geneva car show before unveiling an electric DBX concept car prefiguring the new vehicle, expected by 2019.
Palmer said that Aston’s main shareholders, private equity groups Invest-industrial and Investment Dar of Kuwait, had agreed to back the capital hike and range expansion
He acknowledged that the future production SUV model could use a four-wheel drive architecture from 5 per cent shareholder Daimler, which is already supplying Aston with electronics and V8 engines from its AMG division.
