Aston Martin to continue with V12 engine as well as new Mercedes AMG V8

The tie-up between Aston Martin and Mercedes AMG for engines and electronic architecture won’t see the end of AM’s V12 engine.

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Aston Martin has certainly been looking to the future with renewed optimism over the last year as a series of deals gave them a lifeline to remain competitive in an increasingly corporate car world.

Extra funding came in thanks to the involvement of Investindustrial’s new stake in Aston Martin, and a deal has been done with Mercedes AMG to supply new V8 engines and electronic architecture.

Not only that, but Aston Martin are developing a new platform for their future range of cars, with the biggest investment in Aston Martin’s history.

So it seemed that the next few years will bring a complete change at Aston, with an all-new platform replacing the ancient – although oft revised – VM architecture, and new V8 engines from AMG, with Aston fettling, replacing the old V12. But it seems it’s not that clear cut.

In correspondence with Autoblog, Aston Martin’s Matthew Clarke has revealed that the Ford derived V12, which has been the mainstay of Aston’s GT engine range for more than a decade, will continue and will be offered in Aston’s flagship cars alongside the new V8s.

There’s no real detail, but we’re assuming that, just as Bentley has done with the W12 and new 4.0 litre V8 turbo, Aston Martin will be offering ‘sporty’ versions of the next DB9 and Vanquish in both a V8 guise and as a more traditional Grand Tourer with the V12, but with the Vantage models receiving just the new AMG V8.

So despite big cylinder counts falling by the wayside across the globe as car makers seek to reduce their CO2 emissions, Aston are planning to continue with the V12.

For which they deserve a big round of applause.