Lagonda aims to raise the bar with electric 4x4

Aston Martin-owned marque says Vision Concept shown at Geneva Motor Show will be unveiled in 2021

Aston Martin Lagonda at Geneva International Motor Show in Geneva. British luxury car maker plans a radical 4x4.Stefan Wermuth/Bloomberg

After grabbing the imagination of attendees at the 2018 Geneva motor show with its "Vision Concept", Lagonda has confirmed plans for its first production model - what the British luxury car maker calls a radical, sector-defining zero-emission 4x4.

Scheduled to be unveiled in 2021, the Lagonda 4x4 will be the first luxury off-roader exclusively driven by zero-emission powertrain technologies, the firm says, and will uphold all the qualities of the reinvented super-luxury marque.

Not only will it feature a development of the eye-atching design first seen with the Vision Concept, the 4x4 will be built around near-future technologies, such as its advanced battery electric drivetrain, making the Lagonda 4x4 what the car maker claims is the first of its kind: an ultra-stylish, supremely luxurious, fully electric emission-free vehicle.

Lagonda plans what it calls a unique electric 4x4. Courtesy Lagonda

"In reviving one of the most iconic names in motoring we have created a unique opportunity," said Andy Palmer, president and chief executive of Aston Martin, which owns the Lagonda marque. "One that allows us to cast aside an inherited 20th century approach and instead design cars around 21st century demands and desires."" He said the car will be significantly different to drive than a traditional 4x4, "so its looks have to reflect that new reality and to serve as pathfinder to a future in which the most desirable and prestigious automobiles still have a place."

Andy Palmer, chief executive of Aston Martin Lagonda. Giulia Marchi/Bloomberg

Lagonda was founded by Wilbur Gunn, an opera-singing machine engineer, in 1904. It was named for the fast-flowing Lagonda Creek river that ran through Gunn’s home town of Springfield, Ohio.

Gunn left America at the turn of the last century and settled in west London. From his glasshouse workshop, he made motorcycle and marine engines, conceiving of a double-expansion steam engine that powered the legendary “Giralda”, at that time the fastest steam yacht on the Thames.

In 2008, Aston Martin announced plans to revive the Lagonda marque “to develop cars which can have a different character than a sports car… offering exclusive, luxurious and truly versatile products with high quality and usability…”

And 2015 saw the start of strictly limited production of the Lagonda Taraf, the most expensive four-door saloon in the world at the time, with a price tag of $1 million.