What do you call a grand tourer that outpaces expectations, outclasses rivals, and redefines the category it belongs to? According to Aston Martin (Instagram), you call it the DB12, and more provocatively, you don’t call it a grand tourer at all. The first vehicle in a new era of performance and design for the brand, the DB12 is not just a successor to the DB11, but is something altogether different: the world’s first Super Tourer.
“Grand is not enough, this is the world’s first Super Tourer,” according to the famed automotive firm, positioning the DB12 not as an evolution but as a redefinition. Created as part of Aston Martin’s 110th anniversary and coinciding with 75 years of the DB bloodline, the DB12 marks a clear break from tradition. With a top speed of 202mph and a 0–60 time of just 3.5 seconds, it’s a car built to perform, but that’s only part of the story.
At its heart is a heavily re-engineered 4.0-litre V8 Twin Turbo engine delivering 680PS and 800Nm of torque. But the DB12 isn’t just about numbers, it’s about how it translates them into experience. The platform has been overhauled with a 7% increase in torsional stiffness, intelligent adaptive dampers, and a rear-mounted Electronic Differential (E-Diff) that allows for precision handling without compromising comfort.
“DB12 is a statement car, one that asserts Aston Martin’s position as a leader in performance, dynamics, engineering, and technology,” says Roberto Fedeli, the company’s Chief Technology Officer. “We have pushed every aspect of this car to be best-in-class.”
Those systems don’t just deliver speed, they expand the car’s emotional range. Five selectable drive modes (Wet, GT, Sport, Sport+, and Individual) give the driver control over the vehicle’s character, allowing for a smooth touring experience one moment and a sharp, highly responsive performance the next. The custom Michelin Pilot Sport 5S tyres, developed specifically for this model, play a crucial role, improving road grip and reducing interior noise by 20%.
The exterior design signals Aston Martin’s commitment to both aggression and elegance. A wider track, sculpted splitter, larger grille, and frameless side mirrors define the front-end. A new iteration of the iconic wings badge appears for the first time on the DB12, underlining the car’s role as the beginning of something new. It’s what Marek Reichman, Chief Creative Officer, calls “our design definition of a Super Tourer.”
The cabin is ultra-luxurious but increasingly digital. Richly detailed with Bridge of Weir leather, Alcantara, and hand-stitched quilting, the cockpit wraps around a fully in-house-developed infotainment system. It features a 10.25″ Pure Black touchscreen with a 30ms reaction time, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and a tactile balance of digital screens and physical controls. It’s a high-end interface designed for driving, not distraction.
That mix of craft and code continues with the sound system. As standard, the DB12 comes with a 390w 11-speaker setup, but for those who want to go further, Aston Martin partnered with Bowers & Wilkins to create a 15-speaker, double-amplified 1,170W surround system specifically tuned to the car’s cabin architecture. It’s not an off-the-shelf system, it’s engineered into the structure itself.
Technology also defines the car’s approach to connectivity. The DB12 is the first Aston Martin to launch with a fully integrated digital ecosystem, vehicle tracking, remote locking, over-the-air diagnostics, and last-mile navigation all accessible via the new Aston Martin app. It’s part of what the brand sees as a long-term ownership experience, with three years of connected services included and available even through the pre-owned “Timeless” program.
This is a car engineered for individuals, not categories, and Aston Martin knows it. The Q by Aston Martin personalization program invites owners to commission unique builds, with everything from subtle detail changes to one-off bodywork on the table. Customisation isn’t a flourish, it’s core to the product strategy.
As Amedeo Felisa, Aston Martin’s CEO, puts it: “When a brand has as much history as Aston Martin, it is important to honour the past, not by looking back, but by pushing forward. With the DB12, we are reasserting Aston Martin as a maker of truly exceptional performance sports cars.”
The DB12 is nothing less than the prototype for a new design language, a new engineering philosophy, and a new level of customer expectation. The grand tourer has evolved, the Super Tourer has arrived.
