Aston Martin DBX SUV (Verekai) will be V8 PETROL only

The new Aston Martin DBX SUV – expected to be the Aston Martin Verekai – will be offered with only the 4.0 litre AMG petrol V8 when it launches.

Aston Martin is on something of a roll at the moment, floating on the Stock Exchange this week (although not without a few hiccups) and rolling out new models as it looks, for perhaps the first time in its history, to be on firm financial footings.

But in car world rapidly changing to accommodate emissions concerns, AML need to negotiate their future with a keen eye on just how emissions regulations will affect their cars and their future, so you’d expect they would plan for new models to use electrification of one form or another to keep their cars appealing but compliant. Which they are, but only sort of.

AML boss Andy Palmer has already made it clear that no Aston Martin will have a diesel (which is a bit of a no-brainer), but also that no Aston Martin will come as a plug-in hybrid (a lot less of a no-brainer). Although AML are planning a range of Lagonda EVs to cover the ‘Green’ bit, to be built in wales and arriving in 2021.

But before then the new Aston Martin DBX SUV (which we expect to be the Aston Verekai when it arrives) will launch, and based on Palmer’s recent utterings we expected, despite the DBX Concept coming with an EV powertrain, it will be offered only with Aston’s latest 5.2 litre V12 or the AMG 4.0 litre V8. But it won’t.

In fact, in conversation with Automotive News, Palmer appears to rule out the V12 as an option for the DBX/Verakai, stating the DBX will be powered by the same 4.0 litre AMG engine you can already find in the Vantage and DB11. Which may well signal the imminent demise of the V12 from Aston Martin, an engine built on a license from Ford which ends in a couple of years time.

We’re not entirely sure a V8 petrol-only option for the DBX is the right way to go, and we really can’t see why Palmer is so against plug-in hybrids, an option which seems to be the perfect solution for a high-riding Aston Martin SUV.

Still, Aston reckon the DBX will soon be its biggest seller – even if it only has a V8 option – as sales move up towards 10,000 a year in the next couple of years.