LONDON: David Brown Automotive will introduce its Speedback at the 2015 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Built on a modified Jaguar XKR platform as many recent Aston Martins were, of course, the Speedback features a retro-styled coupe body design that is a homage to the Touring Superleggera-designed Aston Martin DB5 which became a legend, following its use in James Bond films of the Sean Connery era. It’s definitely not as pretty to our minds.
The retro treatment continues inside and is better than the external execution, with features like a wood-rimmed steering wheel and a set of vintage-looking circular analogue gauges, while one’s personal specification can be upgraded with a long list of modern technical features including climate air conditioning, satellite navigation and all manner of high-end sound systems.
The tailgate folds down to reveal a small two-person bench seat designed for impromptu picnics, not dissimilarly to the “touch-line” seating on some early Honda Odysseys.
The Speedback used an engine and transmission lifted directly from the Jaguar XFR, XJR, XKR and F-type R series, featuring a superchanged 32 valve quad cam 5.0-litre V8 engine producing 375 kilowatts and 691 Newton-metres of torque. Linked to a six-speed automatic transmission, the eight-cylinder sends the coupe from zero to 100kmh in 4.6 seconds and on to an electronically limited top speed of 240kmh. Strangely, the Jags now have eight-speeders.
Additional details and availability will be announced in the days leading up to the car’s public unveiling in August.
The company predicts the hand-built Speedback will cost NZ$650,000 in the US before options are factored in, once a few personalised bits are added, the car will go past NZ$1 million in New Zealand. You could buy six XJRs for that or four Aston DB9’s. Is the Speedback, which we think looks like a badly-rendered kit car, really worth it?
In the country that introduced the Excalibur SS as a classic, the Speedback should sell like hot cakes – or should that be hot dogs?
