Aston Martin delays first electric car until at least 2033
Aston Martin is sharply slowing the pace of electrification. Aston Martin boss Adrian Hallmark said the brand’s first fully electric car will not reach the market before 2033. That marks a major shift from its earlier plan, which originally envisaged launching its first electric car as early as 2025.
V8 and V12 engines to remain until at least 2035
According to Hallmark, Aston Martin has a roadmap that will allow it to continue offering V8- and V12-powered cars until at least 2035. The reasons are demand from luxury car customers and a changing regulatory environment.
For Aston Martin, this is a logical step. The brand’s core customers still buy cars such as the Vantage, DB12, Vanquish and DBX707 precisely for the character of a large internal combustion engine. Adding a fully electric powertrain does not automatically confer an advantage in this price bracket, particularly if the customer does not see emissions-free driving as the main reason to buy.
The electric car launch date keeps slipping
In 2022, Aston Martin planned to bring its first fully electric model to market in 2025. The company then pushed the date back to 2026, citing weaker demand for electric cars. The target later shifted towards 2030, and the new management is now talking about 2033 at the earliest.
The change goes beyond the timetable. Aston Martin’s documents for the 2025 financial year state that the company is revising its model cycle and postponing investment in its electric platform, focusing over the next few years on V8- and V12-powered cars and improving their efficiency.
Lucid technology can wait
Aston Martin signed an agreement with Lucid back in 2023, giving it access to electric motors, battery technology and power electronics. The company planned to build its own electric platform around these components for sports cars, GTs and SUVs.
The technical foundation therefore remains in place. The question is more about when Aston Martin considers it commercially sensible to use it.
This sets the company apart from Porsche, Bentley and Rolls-Royce, for example, which have progressed further with their electric programmes. At the same time, the luxury segment as a whole has become more cautious, as demand for high-priced electric cars is not growing as quickly as was forecast a few years ago.
European regulations still require changes
Aston Martin’s decision does not mean its current V8 and V12 engines can continue unchanged until the end of the next decade.
European emissions requirements are tightening, and the brand will have to reduce both its cars’ average CO₂ emissions and the fuel consumption of individual powertrains. Plug-in hybrids and other electrified solutions will therefore become more important to Aston Martin over the next few years.
The company itself has spoken of a mixed strategy in which internal combustion engines, plug-in hybrids and, later, fully electric cars coexist.
Aston Martin chose the customer over the electric car
Delaying its electric car until at least 2033 shows how quickly expectations in the luxury car market have changed.
Just a few years ago, Aston Martin considered an electric line-up inevitable and planned to electrify a large part of its line-up by the end of the decade. Now the company prefers to keep selling what its customers actually buy.
For Aston Martin, the main question is not whether it can develop an electric sports car. It is whether a customer spending €250,000 will choose a quiet electric GT or a V12-powered Vanquish.
Its current decision indicates that Aston Martin is betting on the latter for years to come.
