Aston Martin appears to be well on the way to bringing the Rapide Concept first aired at the 2006 Detroit Auto Show to market.
These photos of an apparently fully-fledged prototype were snapped by spy photographers Carparazzi in the UK recently, showing a virtually fully-trimmed car that looks as slinky on the road as the concept car did on its stand in Detroit. The Rapide is also being tested on the Nurburgring in Germany.
As a four-door supercar, the stretched DB9 aims at the likes of Porsche Panamera, Audi A7 and Mercedes-Benz CLS.
The burning question about a concept like this is whether it works stylistically. It's all very well to have an upper-level supercar that purports to carry four passengers with sedan-like comfort and convenience, but if it doesn't look just right buyers will stay away in droves.
The stretched Aston, which was sidelined for as while as Ford unloaded the bulk of its shares to consortium led by Prodrive chief Dave Richards, looks pretty comfortable as a four-door even if the wheelbase increases looks very obvious in profile view.
The Rapide will use the same 6.0-litre V12 engine as the DB9, tuned to dish out more power than the DB9's 380kW so performance is maintained despite the extra weight of the bigger body.
The Rapide is to be assembled by Magna Steyr in Graz, Austria, following an announcement by Aston Martin that its Warwickshire plant in the UK was running at close to its 8000 vehicles a year capacity.
The Rapide is expected to go on sale internationally in 2010.
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