The Aston Martin Engine
Plant (AMEP) in Cologne, Germany, has launched production of its latest engine,
a 5.2L twin-turbo unit for the DB11.
Designed
in-house, this new down-sized engine develops 608PS and 700Nm of torque. Aston
Martin claims this makes the DB11 the most powerful production DB model.
Aston Martin claims also a top speed of
200 mile/h and a 0-62 mile/h time of 3.9 s.
The latest engine has intelligent
cylinder bank activation and stop-start technology to offer improved
efficiency.
AMEP is a dedicated, state-of-the-art
facility created for the production of Aston Martin power plants. When the facility, located in a separate building
at Ford Motor Company’s Niehl Engine Plant in Cologne, was opened on 28 October
2004, Aston Martin said that for the first time it had a purpose-built engine
production facility.
The plant is
equipped to work solely on Aston Martin engines and the building carries the marque’s
corporate identity. Workplace
for over 100 highly-trained employees, the 12,500 square metre production hall
has four distinct areas: machining engine cylinder blocks, machining cylinder
heads, an assembly area where specialist technicians hand-build engines, and a
final area for receiving components and shipping completed engines.
Production of 6-litre V12 and 4.7-litre
V8 engines will continue at AMEP.
To ensure the highest levels of quality
and consistency, one engine assembly technician will build each engine,
following the process through from start to finish.
According to Aston Martin it takes a
total of eight hours to build one V12 engine and AMEP has a production capacity
of 8,000 engines a year.
Once completed, each engine undergoes
stringent cold and hot testing within the AMEP facility, and only when it has
satisfied the various test criteria is it released for shipment to the Aston
Martin assembly plant in Gaydon, Warwickshire, UK.
Brian Fitzsimons, Aston Martin chief
engineer, powertrain, says: “To see this new engine go into full production at
AMEP makes me very proud. Designing and developing the 5.2L twin-turbo power plant
has been an all-consuming passion for me and my team. Knowing that the end
result would be built with meticulous care in a truly state-of-the-art facility
such as AMEP was an added motivation. It’s a hugely exciting time to be an
engineer at Aston Martin, not least because this is just the beginning for the
new twin-turbo V12.”
Dr Andy Palmer, Aston Martin president
and chief executive officer, noted: “AMEP is one of our great success stories
and one of the jewels in the Aston Martin crown. To have the ability to design
and then manufacture our own high-performance engines in-house is something
very special. It gives us ultimate control of quality and that all-important
character for which Aston Martin cars are renowned. I have no doubts that our
new twin-turbo V12 is the start of an even greater era of success.”
Recommended retail price for the DB11
is from £154,900 in the UK, €204,900 in Germany and $211,995 in USA, first
deliveries of the DB11 are scheduled to begin during the fourth quarter of
2016.
The V12 DB11 is one of a series of cars
Aston Martin is working on to reinvent the business as luxury car maker for the
modern age. The range includes the all-electric DBX the company will build in a
vacant plant in St. Athan, in the Vale of Glamorgan from 2020 onwards.
Dr. Palmer has secured £500 million
with which to turn round the business and has six years in which to do it. Last
year, he raised another £200 million by issuing preference shares to investors.
He believes that by having a series of models – maybe as many as seven – he will
be able to avoid the downward spirals of the past.
No comments:
Post a Comment