Until a year or so ago, the future dominance of pure electric vehicles looked all but certain, especially in Europe, where a 2030 deadline was implemented for the banning of sales of combustion-powered vehicles, including hybrids.
More recently, though, the tide has turned a little. Consumer demand for EVs has cooled off, various governments, including the UK and EU, are reconsidering their deadlines for the outlawing of combustion; and various manufacturers, including Mercedes and Bentley, have pushed back their original plans to go all-electric.
Aston Martin Valhalla – front
Now, Aston Martin, which was originally one of plenty of manufacturers to target 2030 for the phasing out of combustion engines, is the latest to backtrack. According to Pistonheads, CEO Lawrence Stroll confirmed in a press conference at the company’s Warwickshire headquarters this week that it would be increasing its investment in plug-in hybrids, and would keep producing them until legally told to stop.
Aston isn’t abandoning fully electric cars altogether, with a platform already developed and set to underpin a range of EVs. Its first EV, however, was originally set to debut in 2025, but that was initially delayed until 2026 and has now been pushed back another year. Stroll cited the initial EV push being “politically driven rather than [driven] by customer demand” as the reason.
Aston Martin Valhalla – front
“We speak to our dealers, we speak to our customers,” continued Stroll. “Everyone said ‘we still want sound, we still want smell’.”
As a result, Stroll has announced investment into a new range of PHEVs, the first of which will be the mid-engined Valhalla, which is set to land with customers next year and will spawn a range of derivatives. A series of front-engined successors to Aston’s current sports car range will follow. They’ll continue to use Mercedes-AMG-sourced V8s paired with electric motors, potentially from US EV startup Lucid, with which Aston has a current partnership in place for its full EVs.
Aston Martin Valhalla – rear
Stroll also said that he believes there will always be demand for combustion cars, and that Aston will keep making them “for as long as we’re allowed to legally.” He’s the latest senior car industry figure to express similar sentiments, with both Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna and Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda recently expressing a belief that electric cars will never take over completely.
The electric car is very much here to stay, and will likely be the way the vast majority of cars are powered within the next decade or so, but there’s increasing evidence that it might not be the catchall solution it seemed to be a couple of years ago, especially in the world of performance cars.