Aston Martin is back at the Nürburgring and after having “hunted” a sportier version of the Vantage — which might come to be called the Vantage RS — we have now caught what promises to be one of the most efficient versions of the brand's SUV, the Aston Martin DBX Hybrid.
At first glance, it looks like a conventional DBX, but the yellow bumper sticker confirms that it is a hybrid vehicle. But the various images of this prototype of tests in action on the mythical Germanic route allow us to see that only one side (right) has a supply port.
For this reason, we can assume that the first electrified version of the sports SUV of the Gaydon brand will be a light hybrid, that is, it will have a mild-hybrid 48 V system.
However, everything indicates that Aston Martin will also launch a plug-in hybrid version — based on a Mercedes-AMG twin-turbo V8 — of its sports SUV in the future (rumors point to 2023), in order to compete with models like the Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid or Bentley Bentayga Hybrid.
It's true, for now, that this test prototype doesn't present any aesthetic modification that distinguishes it from the other “brothers” fed only with a combustion engine. So the changes in this version are confined to mechanics only.
Still, our photographers who were at the track where they “caught” this prototype in tests claim that the sound of the engine was different from that of a conventional DBX, which was also being tested at the Nürburgring, which only fuels the idea that in place of the 4.0 liter twin-turbo V8 we can have a 3.0 liter twin-turbo six-cylinder in-line Mercedes-AMG, identical to the one found in the AMG 53.
It only remains for us to continue to follow the development of this DBX Hybrid closely, which Aston Martin will present during the next year.