The Aston Martin Rapide is a four-door, high-performance sport

Sports car

A sports car is a small, usually two seat, two door automobile designed for high speed driving and maneuverability....

 saloon, which British luxury marque Aston Martin

Aston Martin

Aston Martin Lagonda Limited is a British manufacturer of luxury sports cars, based in Gaydon, Warwickshire. The company name is derived from the name of one of the company's founders, Lionel Martin, and from the Aston Hill speed hillclimb near Aston Clinton in Buckinghamshire...

 introduced in early 2010. It was first presented as a concept car

Concept car

A concept vehicle or show vehicle is a car made to showcase new styling and or new technology. They are often shown at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or may not have a chance of being produced....

 at the North American International Auto Show

North American International Auto Show

The North American International Auto Show is an annual auto show held in Detroit, Michigan at Cobo Center, usually in January. It is among the largest auto shows in North America.-History:...

 in 2006. The Rapide name is a reference to the Lagonda Rapide

Lagonda Rapide

The Lagonda Rapide was a 4-door GT car produced from 1961 until 1964. Based on the Aston Martin DB4, it was David Brown's attempt to revive the Lagonda marque which he had purchased in 1948. It marked a revival of the Rapide model name which had been used by Lagonda during the 1930s...

, a saloon car produced by Lagonda

Lagonda

Lagonda is a British luxury car marque, founded as a company in 1906 in Staines, Middlesex by a former opera singer from Ohio, but of Scottish ancestry, named Wilbur Gunn . He named the company after a river near the town of his birth, Springfield, Ohio, United States...

, now part of Aston Martin. The car is based on an Aston Martin DB9

Aston Martin DB9

-DB9 Volante:The Aston Martin DB9 Volante is the convertible version of the DB9 coupe. It is built by hand in limited numbers and has enhanced styling. It is powered by the same 6.0 litre, DOHC 48 valve V12 as the DB9 and is completed with 470 bhp and a top speed of 186 mph...

. The base price for the Aston Martin Rapide is $199,950 (USD) and the first cars were rolled out in May 2010.

The Rapide is built at a dedicated plant at the Magna Steyr

Magna Steyr

Magna Steyr Fahrzeugtechnik AG & Co KG is an automobile manufacturer based in Oberwaltersdorf, Austria, with its primary manufacturing location in Graz...

 facility in Graz

Graz

The more recent population figures do not give the whole picture as only people with principal residence status are counted and people with secondary residence status are not. Most of the people with secondary residence status in Graz are students...

, Austria. Production began in 2010 and the factory plans to build 2,000 per year. The concept car version featured a full-length glass roof and LED light bars on the rear end, two firsts for Aston Martin. The glass roof was not carried through to production.

It is the spiritual successor to the Aston Martin Lagonda

Aston Martin Lagonda

The Aston Martin Lagonda was a luxury four-door saloon built by Aston Martin of Newport Pagnell, England, between 1974 and 1990. A total of 645 were produced. The name was derived from the Lagonda marque that Aston Martin had purchased in 1947...

, the company's previous four-door saloon, which was discontinued in 1989 — 21 years before the Rapide's launch.

For luxury and convenience, the Rapide's standard features include a tilt-telescoping steering wheel, bi-xenon headlamps and LED taillamps. Leather and walnut trim are standard, with metallic accents; power front seats with memory, cooling and heating; Bluetooth; satellite radio (US version only); and USB and iPod connectivity. The Rapide comes, as standard, with a Bang & Olufsen

Bang & Olufsen

Bang & Olufsen is a Danish company that designs and manufactures audio products, television sets and telephones. It was founded in 1925 by Peter Bang and Svend Olufsen, whose first significant product was a radio that worked with alternating current, when most radios were run from batteries...

 16 speaker sound system with two that rise from the dashboard on activation of the system.
The production version of the Rapide was shown at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show.

Specifications

• Unit price: $199,950 (USD)
• Engine: 6.0 L V12
  V12 engine
  A V12 engine is a V engine with 12 cylinders mounted on the crankcase in two banks of six cylinders, usually but not always at a 60° angle to each other, with all 12 pistons driving a common crankshaft....
  
  
• Power: 470 bhp
• Torque: 443 lbf.ft
• Transmission: Six-speed Touchtronic
  Manumatic
  Manumatic is a portmanteau of the words manual and automatic, that applies to a class of automotive transmissions.Manumatic refers to an automatic transmission that allows convenient driver control of gear selection. This type of transmission was introduced in the 1990s...
  
  
• Drivetrain: RWD
• 0-100 kilometre per hour: 5.3 seconds
• 0-60 mi/h: 5.0 seconds
• Top speed: 188.5 mi/h

Production

Production by sub-contractor Magna Steyr

Magna Steyr

Magna Steyr Fahrzeugtechnik AG & Co KG is an automobile manufacturer based in Oberwaltersdorf, Austria, with its primary manufacturing location in Graz...

 will end in the middle of 2012, six years earlier than expected. Production of the car was halted temporarily in May 2011. To match output to sales, Aston Martin has to cut annual production from 2,000 to 1,250 in June 2011.

Motorsports

A Rapide was entered in the 2010 24 Hours Nürburgring

24 Hours Nürburgring

The 24 Hours Nürburgring is a touring car and GT endurance racing event on the Nürburgring Nordschleife . With a lap length of over , it allows the participation of more than 200 cars, and over 700 drivers.-Overview:...

. Drivers included Aston Martin CEO Ulrich Bez

Ulrich Bez

Dr. Ulrich Bez is a German-businessman and currently CEO of Aston Martin motorcars.-Life:He holds a doctorate in engineering from the University of Stuttgart...

. It finished second in the SP 8 class.

Media

External links

• Official Press Release Detroit, 2006
• Official Press Release Graydon, 7 May 2010
• Official Rapide Page