2024 Aston Martin DB12 First Look: Aston Drops Another Stunning Supercar

It's a big year for British marque Aston Martin. Not only is Fernando Alonso consistently putting the brand's logo at the pointy end of the Formula 1 grid, but the company is also celebrating its 110th anniversary. What better way to party, then, than to launch a new Aston Martin DB? Especially as the famed DB moniker is itself 75 years old this year. Meet the 2024 Aston Martin DB12, the first of eight new Astons scheduled to debut over the next 24 months.

The DB12, says Aston Martin chief technology officer Roberto Fedeli, is a "statement car." And when you look at some of the headline numbers, it's hard to disagree: 671 horsepower, 0-60 mph in 3.5 seconds, and a top speed of 202 mph, all from a car that replaces the DB11 V-8, Aston's outgoing entry-level grand tourer. But dig a little deeper and we can perhaps forgive the team at Aston HQ excitedly proclaiming: "This is the world's first super tourer. Grand is not enough."

There's a lot to unpack in the DB12.

At first glance the DB12 doesn't look all that different from the DB11, which is still one of the best-looking GTs in the business. There's a bigger grille and dramatic venting in the hood, plus new headlights, bumpers, and side sills. The rear end looks almost identical. But 80 percent of the car is new, insist Aston insiders. The DB12 delivers all the curbside Aston gorgeousness we expect. What's new is that the real money has this time been spent on performance and handling hardware, and on stuff that Aston Martin hasn't always done exceptionally well.

The Hardware

Let's start with the chassis. The DB12 is based on the DB11, with fundamentally the same structural hardpoints and powertrain. However, the bonded-aluminum body structure is seven-percent stiffer overall, with the stiffness across the front strut towers increased by 140 percent to improve on-center feel from the electric steering system, which needs just 2.4 turns of the steering wheel to go from lock to lock.

The suspension design and geometry are the same as that of the DB11, but the front track has been widened by 0.25-inch and the rear track pumped by 0.86-inch. The stiffer structure enables the new Bilstein DTX adaptive shocks, which have four times the operating range of the DB11's units, to better finesse wheel and body motions.

The 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8 under the hood is the same AMG-designed, AMG-sourced engine that served so well in the DB11, but modified cam profiles and bigger turbos combined with compression-ratio tweaks have boosted power to 671 horses at 6000 rpm and torque to 590 lb-ft between 2750 and 6000 rpm, increases of 34 percent and 18 percent, respectively. This is the only engine option; there won't be a V-12-powered DB12. Instead, the V-12 will power a successor to the DBS 770 Ultimate, a fast and brawny front-engine coupe that will be badged … Vanquish.

The DB12 engine drives the rear wheels through the familiar ZF eight-speed automatic used across the current mainstream Aston Martin range, although the transmission's electronic brain has been reprogrammed to improve response and shorten shift times. The final drive has been shortened 13 percent to improve standing-start acceleration and in-gear rolling response, and for the first time on a DB Aston, an electronic differential is standard.

The default brake setup includes drilled and slotted steel discs measuring 15.7 inches up front and 14.2 inches at the rear; carbon ceramic brakes, which save a total of 60 pounds, are available as an option. The standard wheels are 21 inches all round, and the DB12 marks the OEM debut of Michelin's new Pilot Sport S 5 tire. Sized 275/35 at the front and 315/30 at the rear, this version of the S has been built to Aston Martin's specification, and features a polyurethane foam insert in the carcass that is said to reduce transmitted road noise by 20 percent.

The Software

Tying all the new engine and chassis hardware together is new software, the most visible manifestation of which is a new stability control system that combines four intervention protocols—Wet, On, Track, and Off—with five overall drive modes—GT, Sport, Sport+, Individual, and Wet. The default GT mode has been calibrated to ensure good primary ride quality for long-distance cruising, a hallmark of the best Aston GTs, while Sport and Sport+ modes cinch down body motions and sharpen the DB12's reflexes.

The new stability control system takes data from a multitude of sensors around the car, most notably a new six-axis inertial measurement unit that can build a real-time understanding of what the DB12 is doing and predict available grip levels. Because it allows more subtle powertrain and chassis adjustments to be made earlier in any given dynamic scenario, the instances of a driver feeling the stability control system pull the car back from the brink are reduced. "Less intervention, more anticipation," says Aston Martin's head of vehicle engineering, Simon Newton.

A key benchmark car for the DB12's chassis development team was Ferrari's Roma. "We enjoy this niche between the Roma and the Bentley Continental GT," says Newton of Aston's traditional take on the classic front-engine grand tourer. As a result, one area the engineering team spent a lot of time on was honing the on-center steering feel. "It's hugely important for a fast road car," Newton says. "For this class of car, it has to be right on the road first." Rear-wheel steering was evaluated, but Newton's engineers decided it wasn't necessary. "This is a car that doesn't need a lot of dynamic modifiers," Newton says.

Massively Upgraded Interior

While the DB12's exterior may look familiar, its interior is a revelation. "This is where the really big investment has been," says Aston design director Miles Nurnberger, and that's obvious the moment you open the door and settle into the driver's seat. The redesigned dash features a horizontal, full-width vent graphic that underpins two 10.3-inch high-resolution screens with ultra-black display technology, one for the instrument panel and one in the center of the car for the infotainment. You sit low between the shoulder line of the greenhouse and a center console whose flying buttresses extend between the front seats.

"We have a reputation for beautiful exteriors, but our interiors were not as special," Nurnberger admits. The DB12's interior, awash with the rich tang of Bridge of Weir leather, is special. It's functional, too. The PRND array of buttons across the dash—an Aston feature since the early 2000s—has been banished in favor of a simple and more ergonomically sound toggle on the top of the center console, similar to the one in the current Porsche 911. Manual mode is actuated by a button adjacent to the toggle.

Although the center touchscreen boasts ultra-responsive capacitive control, Aston has wisely resisted the temptation to cede every physical button to it. Instead, there are hard buttons for drive mode selection, all heating and ventilation functions, and to deactivate the lane control assist and park distance control functions, plus chassis, stability control, and sports exhaust settings.

The DB12 also debuts a brand-new software architecture, developed entirely in-house, that's designed to deliver levels of functionality and connectivity never before seen in Aston Martins.

In addition to facilitating over-the-air updates and diagnostics and powering a new navigation system with dynamic routing as well as a suite of online functions, one of the features supported by the new architecture is the Aston Martin App, which can be downloaded to owners' smartphones with a unique Aston Martin Lagonda ID. Available for iOS and Android, the Aston Martin App will allow personalized content to be presented in screens that match the new user interface in the car. Customers can use the app to monitor and locate their vehicle, send navigation POIs, and share integrated media feeds with other Aston Martin owners.

Work on the new software architecture, which will be rolled out across the refreshed Aston Martin lineup over the coming 24 months, began almost four years ago, before serious development had started on the DB12. It's a major investment in future-proofing Aston Martin, which has to date relied on outdated hand-me-down systems from suppliers such as Mercedes-Benz. "What ages a car quickest now is the HMI [human-machine interface]," acknowledges product and market strategy director Alex Long.

We'll wait until we get behind the wheel before making a definitive judgment, of course, but at first acquaintance, the DB12 is perhaps the most important new Aston Martin grand tourer since the DB7. Just as the DB7, launched 30 years ago, abruptly yanked Aston Martin into the 1990s, the DB12 marks its entry into the modern digital age. It also signals that, despite recent flirtations with mid-engine cars, Aston is firmly wedded to the front-engine, rear-drive layout that has underpinned some of the most classically beautiful sports cars and grand tourers ever created.

Amen to that.