It's quite telling that only twice have I ever seen an Aston Martin Lagonda in a public space. Once, when I was a boy, I saw one in the middle of London and it was sporting a Middle Eastern number plate, the origin of which I wasn't certain. The other occasion? A year ago, in a car park adjacent to Dubai's JBR – this time, I knew I was looking at a Saudi plate. Growing up fascinated by cars in 1970s Britain, the enormous Lagonda, with body creases so sharp you could almost cut yourself on them, was always viewed as the car that only oil barons could afford to buy and run – a justified reputation, as it turned out and they're still loved and driven out here now.
Once the William Towns-designed classic ceased production in January 1990, after what might politely be termed a “troubled existence”, the name died with it, although its maker has, since 1947, been known as Aston Martin Lagonda Limited, so it has always been there in the background. Lagonda, a storied British brand with a motoring heritage that stretches back as far as 1909, was responsible for some of the most glamorous and rapid sports cars of the 1930s and 40s. Even uttering the name, the vowels and consonants rolling around your mouth like syrup, is deeply satisfying.
The famed industrialist David Brown bought the Lagonda brand, lock, stock and barrel, in 1947. While he was busy developing what would turn out to be the most iconic Aston Martins of all time – those with his DB initials prefixed in their nomenclature – he steered Lagonda on a different path, with only sporadic new product launches. In 1974, the name appeared attached to seven long-wheelbase saloon cars based on the contemporary Aston Martin V8, and then, in 1976, the William Towns-designed wedge gave the motoring world its biggest possible shock.
Like the seven limited-edition Lagondas that went before it, the Towns car was based on the mechanicals of Aston Martin’s formidable V8, but its appearance, both inside and out, was quite unlike anything seen before or since. By the mid-1970s, the riotous curves that adorned the world’s previous generation of sports cars had started to give way to sharp angles, creases and flat surfaces. Cars like the Lotus Esprit and Lamborghini Countach were ushering in a brave new era of design that enraptured a world desperate for something new. And no car took the angle-wedge thing to its extremes more than the Lagonda.
At just shy of five metres long, with a three-metre wheelbase, two metres wide and 1.3 metres tall, its proportions were as outrageous as its lines. Luxuriously appointed with as much Connolly leather and lacquered wood veneers as any Rolls-Royce or Bentley, the Lagonda’s real wow factor came from within its vertiginous dashboard. It was the first production car in history to feature digital instrumentation and computer management – in 1976, before most people had even seen a digital wristwatch.
The development costs for all this electronic trickery were said to be four times that of the car in its entirety, which sheds some light on Aston Martin’s then nonsensical approach to company finances. But the biggest problem was that those fancy digital gauges hardly ever functioned as Aston intended and the car developed a name for itself as unreliable, spending more time at dealerships being repaired than in their owners’ garages. Ahead of the curve, ahead of its time and obscenely expensive, the Lagonda was destined to be a small-time hit in the Gulf – and so it came to pass. When the last one rolled out of Aston Martin’s factory in Newport Pagnell, just as the 1990s were being ushered in, it was only the 638th to do so – and nary a tear was shed.
Nobody seemed to miss it, but Aston Martin’s then chief executive, Dr Ulrich Bez, announced in September 2008 that the brand was to be relaunched, just before the world’s financial meltdown. A concept car was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show the following March and the less said about that the better, because its appearance was just as shocking as the Towns car, although this time not in a good way.
A lumpen SUV that looked to all intents and purposes like a four-wheeled monkfish, when everyone was used to Aston Martin producing the world’s most beautiful cars, it was too much to take in. Bez’s bombastic statement that the concept could be in production by the year 2012 and on sale in 100 markets around the world was, mercifully, nothing more than empty words. The plug was pulled, but something else he said did actually resonate with enthusiasts: “An Aston Martin demands to be driven. A Lagonda demands a destination.” Could there, we wondered, be room for an Aston Martin product that ditched the sports-car attitude and embraced the ultra-luxury end of the motoring spectrum?
Fast forward five years and Bez is history, replaced by new blood that will hopefully allow Aston Martin to find its way and become relevant again in a more demanding world where expectations of luxury carmakers have squeezed out the cash-strapped brand. The first hints of a renaissance came in July this year, when teaser images of an entirely new Lagonda were released by Aston Martin. Details were scant, but it wasn’t long before a preproduction model was being driven hard and fast on the mountain roads of Oman and the company came clean – to a point. This Lagonda has been borne from a demand driven by Middle Eastern customers, who wanted something totally different, luxurious, commanding and desirable. The region spoke, was listened to and now it has its own car, not available anywhere else in the world. How’s that for customer service?
Matthew Bennett, who heads up Aston Martin’s “Q” bespoke service, says that we’re in for something very special when it goes on sale to an undisclosed number of privately invited clients. “What we’re dealing with here,” he says, “is the ultimate expression of individuality by Q. The Middle East region has easily the highest take-up for Q’s services anyway, and every single Lagonda will be unique.”
Q, which Aston Martin claims has nothing at all to do with James Bond, has been making quite a name for itself, having showcased its abilities in stunning form with last year’s incredible CC100 supercar and recent, completely bespoke creations shown at Pebble Beach and other exclusive events. The Lagonda has plenty of Q in it.
“It will be available from any of our GCC dealerships,” continues Bennett, “Dubai, Oman, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain. What’s really surprising to all of us at Aston Martin is the continued popularity of the Towns’ Lagonda in the GCC – there’s a lot of love for them, so an all-new model that’s exclusive to the region makes sense.”
The design director Marek Reichman has redeemed himself with this one, most people would agree, but he’s adamant that the Towns model was merely a point of reference rather than a direct influence. “I’m not a retro designer,” he says. “The new Lagonda had to be striking and unique, without looking back on past glories, and while you might be able to see the occasional hint of the Towns car in its proportions and in some of its detailing, you could never accuse the new one of being a pastiche.”
He admits to being a fan of the Towns model. “There’s still nothing like it – a totally unique design icon, and it’s been a real privilege to be in charge of designing a Lagonda for a new audience, particularly for a region that totally gets what the old one was about.”
He says that when his version and the Towns car are parked together, there’s an obvious connection, but that the overall design is entirely different. He’s right – the new one is aggressive up front, with a wide, gaping grille flanked by beautiful LED headlamps, while the old timer’s grille is so small it might as well not be there, with huge pop-up headlamps either side. But those proportions that got everyone so worked up in the 1970s are still there and there’s a definite similarity in the C-pillars. At last, though, the critics can be silenced: not all Aston Martins need look like a variation of the DB9.
Initial rumours suggested that the new Lagonda is little more than a carbon fibre-bodied Aston Martin Rapide, but Reichman is quick to dispel that as nonsense. “This car has been designed from the ground up after we’ve considered the very specific demands from our Middle East customers. Naturally, we’ve utilised our existing platform because it’s such a flexible basis for our cars, but the Lagonda has been tuned specifically for a market that wants more than just a sports car. It’s completely different from anything else we currently make – it rides like a limousine, which is exactly what we were commissioned to produce.”
“We have to remain tight-lipped about how many will be produced,” adds Aston Martin’s PR man, Kevin Watters, “and there’s no point talking about price, because each one will be completely unique.” Bennett reckons that 20 per cent of the price of each will be made up from very specific Q options. If we were to take a guess, we’d be looking at One-77 realms of spend. That’ll be Dh6 million, then, sir (or madam).
It’s entirely obvious, then, that the Lagonda will be out of reach for all but the fortunate few, which is entirely in keeping with the legend of the wedge. Aston Martin has made a smart, shrewd move in appealing to the desires of the most discerning marketplace in the world, and while we’re unlikely to see many Lagondas cruising up and down the corniches of the UAE, they’ll be there, serving as hugely desirable modes of transportation for people who want to be marked out as individuals.
In a world swamped by ambiguous designs, amorphous, androgynous and ultimately bland cars with little or no character, the Lagonda will be viewed, as Reichman is keen to point out, as a piece of art – a sculpture on wheels with an interior to match. This one, though, is not ahead of its time. It’s entirely of its time, a product designed and developed because the demand is there. And, with Aston Martins being reliable enough these days to go endurance racing at the world’s toughest motorsport events, this time round there’s a high chance the new Lagonda will be spending far more time in its owner’s hands than the dealerships.
“The Lagonda brand is here to stay,” concludes Watters. “We’ll see how this one plays out and it’s too early to say what the plans are, but this isn’t a one-off.”
It’s good to know that one of the most fabulous names in the history of the automobile is still with us, attached now to a car people are genuinely excited about. And yes, it’s just for us.
khackett@thenational.ae
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