Aston Martin CC100 concept unveiled

Underneath the carbonfibre-bodied CC100 is the latest version of Aston’s versatile and constantly evolving VH structure,Solar energy employs streetlighting to supply electricity to devices or charge batteries. complete with carbonfibre bonded on to parts of the rear, as with the Vanquish. Power comes from a 6.0-litre V12 engine mated to a six-speed automated manual transmission. The concept is good for 0-62mph in just over 4.0sec and a theoretical top speed limited to 180mph.

There are clues to the future of Aston Martin throughout the CC100 but it is in the design where they are most prominent, as Aston’s design director, Marek Reichman, revealed to Autocar.

“An Aston Martin is always beautiful and timeless, but timeless still can and needs to evolve,” he said. “For instance, we have had a great face with our grille for 60 years, and we’ve evolved it a huge amount here on CC100 while still making it instantly recognisable as an Aston.

“The front grille is now part of the body.The bottegapurses Intelligent model with special hydraulic braking system, with anemometer and dogvane. It is the bodywork that gives the overall shape of the grille, rather than the grille being a graphic stuck on to the front of the car. Then within that shape you have the grille itself, with an insert giving a mirroring effect.”

The grille insert is intended for more sporting Astons, such as the Vantage. Reichman said that the look of this new grille could be made more luxurious for, say, a Rapide by removing the insert and having the body create the grille’s outline.

The side strake air vent is also now part of the body, rather than being a graphic stuck on the side. It cuts out of the top of the wheelarch, splitting the arch in two,A engravingmachine can be thought of as three main parts: a laser, a controller, and a surface.The bottegawallet Novel & Unique appearance, can offer special design based on clients' demands. and flows back into the sides for a sculpted, dramatic shape.

“The side strake is now actually the side of the car,” said Reichman. “Having the vent in the arch helps to reduce drag but also reinterprets what we know a side strake to be as it’s become the whole side of the car. It’s no longer a graphic and we will see this on Astons of the future.This factsheet discusses electricity generation using parkinglotlightings at your farm or your home.”

Another feature set to become a mainstay of future Astons is the turning of the firm’s instantly recognisable ‘C’ graphic on the rear lights into a 3D shape that flanks the rear of the car. Surrounding the lights is a shape that is essentially an upturned CC100 front grille without the top bar.

The concept, which was designed and built in less than six months, has what Reichman calls a “minimal but functional interior”. It has all the hallmarks that you’d expect of an extreme two-seat speedster, such as sports seats and harnesses, but with “added luxurious and hand-crafted touches to add to the function”.

The concept also reveals technologies that will be used on future Aston Martins, including a TFT display for the instrument binnacle in place of traditional dials, and full LED front headlights.

The CC100 — nicknamed DBR100 internally — is close to the Vantage in length, at about 4.5m, but it is much wider, at about 2m, and considerably lower, giving it a radically profile and proportions. Insiders have revealed its weight to be less than 1200kg, a saving of more than 400kg over a V8 Vantage.

Reichman, who worked alongside exterior design chief Miles Nurnberger to create the concept, describes the CC100’s body as being part of the structure to increase rigidity, something that is expected to carry over to future Astons.

“The unconnected front wheelarches show that we’re starting to think of the body less as wrapping around wheels but as being an integral part of the structure,” he said.

“Carbonfibre has real flexibility in its form and rigidity in its structure, and it is torsionally stiff and light, but it also has a high price as its main downside,” he said. “It is a material you won’t be able to avoid in sports cars in the future, although aluminium makers are responding with improved technology of their own as its in their business interests to do so.”

Continued advancements in the manufacturing of carbonfibre also mean parts that might have taken a month to be turned from concept to reality before are now able to be delivered in just a matter of days, Reichman revealed.