Automakers are having fun, as they always do, with their April Fool’s Day jokes this year. And we’ll bring you the best of them. But there’s a grain of truth in every joke, they say. And we’re seeing a rather large grain in this one.
What you’re looking at is humorously dubbed Project Sparta. It’s a monster truck that Aston Martin – tongue pressed firmly in cheek – says it will field in the Monster Jam series.
It’s said to have been built by the company’s racing and Q customization divisions, with the 6.5-liter V12 from the Valkyrie AMR Pro providing all its 1,100 horsepower. It’s even said to be piloted by factory driver Darren Turner: “Winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans was a real thrill last year, but when I heard about this opportunity I just couldn’t say no,” supposedly said Turner. “I hope the guys line up a great selection of cars for me to tear apart, because I’m sure this monster truck will really do the business.”
Of course it’s all a big joke. So don’t expect to see this creation going up against jalopy-crushers like Grave Digger, Big Kahuna, Ice Cream Man, and Jailbird in arenas and stadiums across America. But as funny as the notion of an Aston Martin monster truck may be, there’s more to the accompanying rendering than the hilarity of it all. Poised atop those ridiculously big tires and over-jacked suspension sits the shape, we’re told, of the DBX. Only it doesn’t look like the concept we’ve been seen to date.
The British automaker showcased the DBX concept, as you may recall, over three years ago at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show. But that show car bore a coupe-like curved roofline. More akin to that of the DB11 that debuted the following year. The vehicle in the rendering has an entirely different super-structure, with a more hatchback/crossover-like rear pillar. That’ll make it more practical than joke.
Other details look fairly similar (to our eye at least) to the DBX concept and to the marque’s other recent products, save for the lower part of the front end. We’re not sure how much we should read into that part, melding as it does into the monster-truck undercarriage. But we may yet see big auxiliary lights and a strong-looking chin on the production model (whatever it’s ultimately called) when it’s ready for its big debut. And that, for Aston Martin, will be no joke for fools.
