{"id":103895,"date":"2016-02-17T12:26:27","date_gmt":"2016-02-17T17:26:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=103895"},"modified":"2016-02-17T12:26:27","modified_gmt":"2016-02-17T17:26:27","slug":"aston-turns-to-chinese-partner-to-develop-electric-rapide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2016\/02\/aston-turns-to-chinese-partner-to-develop-electric-rapide\/","title":{"rendered":"Aston Turns to Chinese Partner to Develop Electric Rapide"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Aston wants to plug you into a battery-powered version of the Rapide.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pushing ahead on the development of its first battery-electric sports car, Aston Martin will partner up with Chinese consumer electronics firm LeEco.<\/p>\n

The two hope to have their first vehicle, based on Aston Martin\u2019s Rapide S model, in production by 2018. But the venture could also tie up with another aspiring electric vehicle manufacturer, Faraday Future, Aston CEO Andy Palmer said during a news conference in Frankfurt, Germany.<\/p>\n

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Plug-in with a Free Subscription!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tying up with LeEco \u201cbrings Aston Martin\u2019s electric car project forward,\u201d said Palmer, who joined the British sports car company in 2014 after serving as global product planning chief for Nissan Motor Co. \u2013 where he also oversaw the Japanese maker\u2019s electrification efforts.<\/p>\n

(<\/em>Click Here<\/a> for a Who\u2019s Who of debuts scheduled for the 2016 Geneva Motor Show.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/strong>LeEco, which produces a range of consumer electronics goods, as well as branded content for the Internet, will provide the powertrain and lithium-ion battery pack for use in the electrified version of the Aston Martin Rapide.<\/p>\n

It also would help promote the new battery-car in its home, Chinese market. Facing endemic air pollution problems, the Beijing government has been pressing the auto industry to switch to electric propulsion. China last year became the world\u2019s largest market for battery-based vehicles, ahead of the United States, according to industry data.<\/p>\n

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Aston CEO Andy Palmer previously served as Nissan's global product chief.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“In China we have around 300 million people who visit our website. We could advertise the Aston Martin for free. And we can use celebrities to promote our vehicle. This is the way we do business,” said Lei Ding, co-founder of LeEco’s auto division, and previously an executive with both Volkswagen and General Motors.<\/p>\n

Since his arrival at Aston Martin, Palmer has been pushing to reverse years of financial struggle, in part by expanding the marque\u2019s line-up into new market segments. That includes not only the battery-powered Rapide but also what will become Aston\u2019s first SUV, based on the DBX concept vehicle unveiled at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show.<\/p>\n

The DBX is expected to become the brand\u2019s best-selling model \u2013 much as has happened at Porsche. Virtually every major high-line luxury car manufacturer, including Bentley, Lamborghini, Maserati and Rolls-Royce, now has a utility vehicle under development.<\/p>\n

But a growing number of high-line makers also are exploring their electrification options. Porsche and Audi both have pure battery-electric vehicles under development. The flagship models of Porsche, Ferrari and McLaren all use battery assist systems to deliver peak performance.<\/p>\n

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The concept version of the Aston Martin DBX.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But the push into electrification also is encouraging a number of new start-ups, such as Silicon Valley-based Tesla Motors. Apple is widely expected to enter the market through its Project Titan program, and Google is hiring manufacturing specialists who may produce a retail version of the maker\u2019s autonomous, battery-powered cars.<\/p>\n

With the Beijing government\u2019s blessing, a number of Chinese firms are also entering the electric vehicle segment, from established makers like BYD to start-ups such as Harmony Futeng.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Chinese billionaire Jia Yuetang has become one of the major investors in a California-based start-up called Faraday Future. The company showed off a high-tech prototype during a well-attended preview at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January.\u00a0 Aston and LeEco indicated they may assist Faraday\u2019s development program.<\/p>\n

“Aston can offer expertise in ride, handling refinement and those sorts of things,” said Palmer, during his Wednesday morning news conference.<\/p>\n

(Aston Martin looking for new plant site for DBX sport-ute. US among the possibilities. <\/em>Click Here<\/span><\/a> for more.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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The Faraday Future FF Zero1 concept was unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While government mileage and emissions mandates have been a big factor behind the push into electrified vehicles, automotive industry officials contend there are significant advantages that will also appeal to traditional \u201cgearheads.\u201d Electric motors deliver maximum torque the moment they\u2019re turned on, allowing a vehicle like the Tesla Model S to launch from 0 to 60 in as little as 2.9 seconds when equipped with the optional \u201cLudicrous Mode.\u201d<\/p>\n

The downside is that electric motors don\u2019t have quite the visceral roar of a sports car\u2019s classic V-8.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sound of an Aston Martin is very graceful, that\u2019s kind of what gives its soul,\u201d acknowledged Will Farquhar, Aston Martin\u2019s strategy chief. \u201cSo we are looking at how we can create that soul in an electric vehicle.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Jaguar smashes through 200 mph barrier with new F-Type SVR. <\/em>Click Here<\/span><\/a> to check it out.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pushing ahead on the development of its first battery-electric sports car, Aston Martin will partner up with Chinese consumer electronics firm LeEco. The two partners may also assist California battery-car start-up Faraday Future, reports TheDetroitBureau.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12148,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"make":[],"post-state":[],"category_old":[151],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103895"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103895"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=103895"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=103895"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=103895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}