Valhalla

Segment
Coupe

When it comes to pleasing die-hard automotive enthusiasts, few brands can contend with Aston Martin. Several years ago, under different leadership, the UK brand promised that it would always keep at least one manual transmission in its lineup, pledging to be the last brand offering this option. Now, speaking at the Financial Times Future of the Car Summit this month, Aston's chairman Lawrence Stroll has made a similar statement regarding the internal combustion engine.

Aston's home country of England will ban the sale of all gasoline-powered cars by 2030, but Stroll says there are "always going to be enthusiasts" who want an internal combustion engine, and his company will cater to them. "By 2030, 5% of business will still always be ICE," Stroll confirmed. "I never see it going down to zero."

As for what happens beyond 2030, Stroll seemed less confident. "That is beyond the horizon I'm looking at," he responded when asked about the distant future. With the UK government banning the sale of ICE cars, Aston will be put into an odd situation where a small portion of its cars won't be available in their home market.

For the next decade, Aston will continue to produce cars under a revised partnership with Mercedes-AMG. Aston Martin currently relies on a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 that is used in a variety of AMG products, but the company's future engines will be unique to Aston.

"Our current AMG engines are just that - AMG engines in an Aston," said Stroll. "With this new deal, we will have bespoke AMG engines for Aston with different outputs, torque characteristics, etc. They'll still be AMG components but bespoke manufactured in Germany."

Of course, apart from the V8, Aston also currently offers a 5.2L twin-turbo V12, developed independently from AMG, and the company is working on a new 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6 (codenamed TM01) that will go into the upcoming Vanquish supercar and 2022 Aston Martin Valhalla. These cars may feature an AMG hybrid system paired with an Aston Martin engine. By 2026, the first pure-electric Aston Martin should arrive.