- Aston Martin reported to be looking at building a rugged SUV inspired by Lamborghini’s brutalist LM002
- Sister to DBX would be an expensive alternative to boxy, luxury SUVs like the Land Rover Defender and Mercedes G-Class
- Would likely be based on the DBX chassis, but could it get a V12 to match Ferrari’s Purosangue?
Aston Martin has been leafing through Lamborghini’s back catalog looking for inspiration for its next model, but it’s not the Miura, Countach, or Diablo that’s caught the British luxury brand’s eye. Instead, it’s the butch LM002 off-roader that Aston is channeling for a new SUV, referred to internally as ‘Project Rambo.’
The V12-powered 1980s Italian monster that evolved from a military project is often referred to as the Rambo Lambo, and Aston thinks a sister SUV to the DBX with some of the LM002’s attitude could be a perfect expensive alternative to the Land Rover Defender and Mercedes G-Class, according to a new report.
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Sources close to Aston told Autocar that the lofty, luxury four-door would combine excellent off-road ability with supercar-style on-road levels of performance, and could be limited to 2,500 units to guarantee exclusivity. A run that small would require it to be closely related to the DBX.
The DBX, which has been a huge hit for Aston, was recently slimmed down to just one model, the more powerful 707 (697 hp/707 PS), as the firm opted to drop the original entry-level 542-hp DBX which was starting to look weak next to rivals like the Lamborghini Urus.
Using the 707’s powertrain would give the new SUV plenty of performance (the DBX gets to 62 mph/100 km/h in 3.1 seconds), and require minimum extra development work to calibrate it for the new body, but could Aston have another, more exciting idea up its sleeve?
The brand is one of only a handful of companies still building V12 engines and two of the others – Rolls Royce and Ferrari – also fit their biggest engines to their SUVs. Could Aston consider doing the same to help it differentiate the new model from the DBX and justify the ‘Rambo’ connection to the LM002?
The report doesn’t say, but when Aston revealed some details of the newly uprated 824 hp (835 PS) V12 of the upcoming Vanquish GT, it said the engine would also be fitted to the firm’s “most exclusive and limited availability models”. Project Lambo certainly won’t be electric. Aston has pushed back its EV plans in the wake of lackluster demand for battery-powered cars and will focus on combustion and hybrid power for now.
