Monocle has been dropped.(New Lagonda Concept)

[Ferrer]

What's the point of a taller Phantom? It's not like the Phantom is a low car...

[LeonOfTheDead]

What's the point of a taller Phantom? It's not like the Phantom is a low car...

what's the point of a Phantom in first place? I know what it is, but everything could be argued by a certain logic.

[Ferrer]

what's the point of a Phantom in first place? I know what it is, but everything could be argued by a certain logic.

True but there's a point where thinking too much outside the box brings you disasters.

Like this.

[LeonOfTheDead]

True but there's a point where thinking too much outside the box brings you disasters.

Like this.

I don't think this is thinking out of the box, rather bringing a form to what seems to be the request.
Consider that they stated it's design after customer from new markets, like Middle East, China, Russia and so on. Now think to what you always seen as the cars used by rich or important people from those areas even in movie (dumb, I know). They usually use black S-klasses, or SUVs. what's this it's an executive sedan with the proportions and dimensions of a SUV.
It looks much more aggressive than a Rolls, and even more powerful.
It could be ugly, but I guess I'm no longer talking about the particular style,r rather about the idea behind it.
If I was a mafioso looking for a bad-boy car, this would be on the list, for sure. If I was the kind of person who wants people around him on the street to know he is better, this would do the trick.
it's arrogant, and mean in a way a Phantom can't do. it's like the evil twin.

After seeing too many X6s on the road I understood it was even worst than what I thought. I guess I will never see one of these (even if produced), so my arguments are heavily pending on a first person contact I would really need, and I don't mean just seeing one on the road, but at least parked somewhere with at least 10 minutes of spare time to pass around it.

[Ferrer]

You may have a point but those people you mention not only know nothing about cars, they just don't understand them. It's a disgrace that should be stopped by removing the costumer from the product decisions. Furthermore old mafiosi, proper ones, liked being seen around in big Masers for instance. This new rich sort of cars don't have nowhere near the presence, class or charisma.

This may be big and imposing, but it's vulgar and far too much bling. If anything what it says to me is that the owner needs to compnesate because he is rubbish in bed or has a tiny penis. I doesn't tell me you are better, it tells me that you're an idiot with some serious self-esteem issues.

And then there's the fact that this has to be a Lagonda. If Lexus or Infiniti did it I still wouldn't like, but I wouldn't care much about it. But a Lagonda is an insult to any car enthusiast out there.

Aston Martin, you've failed at everything with this.

[LeonOfTheDead]

surely it appears as vulgar, and even more considering how much attention they payed to th customer, rather than to the car itself . on the other hand, a car without a customer isn't supposed to exists. We should rather critic customers and ignorant rich people. People were asking for cheap and small cars, we had 500s and Minis, people were asking for fast and cheap cars, we had 16 Valves cars, people asks for big and fast living rooms, we have this.

then again, I'm not compltiely able to give Lagonda a precise tag, it's absent from the market since too much time, and even more, in the same way it was offering luxurious sedans back in the days, now it's supposed to offer what now is the limousine or more fashionable way to move from A to B.
I wouldn't like it as a piece of design from Infiniti either, but as a car:
-from the point of view of customers, it's a good idea, it could be another success a la Cayenne (apart from the price)
-from the design point of view, this should be just a design study by some students hidden in their college rooms
Being ugly never proved to be a problem for a car and its success, so since you seem to agree this could be a potential success (even if among debatable custoemers), which brand could have product it so to take advatage of the idea?
Maybe Prosche or Bentley, which already lost their reputations, or some luxury brand from Japan, but they are not so much expensive at the moment, or maybe a new brand risking it won't catch enough attention, or maybe an old one no one really knows about (apart from enthusiasts) but that can bring some heritage?
the latter sounds the best option.

It's bad looking, it's ugly, it's huge, it isn't proportioned and it is also tasteless.
but that's just aesthetic.
I've accepted the D series from Spyker (basically the same kind of vehicle), since, as this, it dismissed the off-road aspirations (the Cayenne could be even the ultimate off roader, but have you ever seen one in the mud?) to gain road performance (you surely saw a Cayenne, even a V6, flatting out) internal space and comfort.
the difference is that I later found the Spyker simply beautiful, while this isn't.

[Ferrer]

Of course there are costumers for these sort of cars. In the same way the Spice Girls sold a lot of CDs. And again I also agree that a car without a costumer is pointless.

But have we arrived to the point where a proper car has no costumers? Does everyone want the same useless, big, tall, ungainly lump of metal? I hope it's not the case, because if it is it would be sad. This car exemplifies in a way what's wrong with this world we live in. Every new object has to bigger, more powerful, have more of everything? Why? Why can't we enjoy the beauty of simplicity? Or the beauty of elegance? Or the beauty of subtelty?

We are in a society where we always want more of everything, where being brash and showy is rewarded and being discreet is simply regarded as a failure and subsequently ingored. We want immediacy, unable to apreciate the details. Style over substance, always.

This isn't so much a good or bad car. This is a statement of all that's wrong with modern society. Thankfully tough, the economic crisis might just kill it. And maybe the bad habits of people too.

(And by the way I don't like any SUV, this, the Spyker D-series or anything)

[LeonOfTheDead]

Of course there are costumers for these sort of cars. In the same way the Spice Girls sold a lot of CDs. And again I also agree that a car without a costumer is pointless.

But have we arrived to the point where a proper car has no costumers? Does everyone want the same useless, big, tall, ungainly lump of metal? I hope it's not the case, because if it is it would be sad. This car exemplifies in a way what's wrong with this world we live in. Every new object has to bigger, more powerful, have more of everything? Why? Why can't we enjoy the beauty of simplicity? Or the beauty of elegance? Or the beauty of subtelty?

We are in a society where we always want more of everything, where being brash and showy is rewarded and being discreet is simply regarded as a failure and subsequently ingored. We want immediacy, unable to apreciate the details. Style over substance, always.

This isn't so much a good or bad car. This is a statement of all that's wrong with modern society. Thankfully tough, the economic crisis might just kill it. And maybe the bad habits of people too.

(And by the way I don't like any SUV, this, the Spyker D-series or anything)

Obviously I agree.
sadly, it seems the economy isn't killing anything except the money we have in the wallet, thanks to governments savings companies which deserved to go or dug their own graves (I agree people working in this companies don't deserve that) and other stupid measurements that seem to be made to carry on things as they are or were rather than changing them so to avoid another crisis in 20 years or even more (or maybe less).
my 2 cents, afaik.

in this scenario this car is just a consequence though.
comparing it to the D8/12 (just because it's the only thing I can compare to it), I would go Spyker in a snap, just because it's simply better looking, better refined, more personal (even if just an enlarged C8).
without falling again in the SUVs-are-bad discussion, this as a concept car is ugly, as a production idea is smart (in the let's make money sense) but still ugly, and as a marketing product it was preventable, even if maybe not from AM.

[Ferrer]

But why would you want a Spyker D8 in the first place when you can have a car?

I mean the weight and height kill everything, performance, handling, fuel economy. Without bringing anything in. And it's not like you are going to take those off-road.So on that basis you might as well have a Maserati GranTurismo or a Jaguar XK or an Aston DB9, which are much better at everything.

[LeonOfTheDead]

But why would you want a Spyker D8 in the first place when you can have a car?

I mean the weight and height kill everything, performance, handling, fuel economy. Without bringing anything in. And it's not like you are going to take those off-road.So on that basis you might as well have a Maserati GranTurismo or a Jaguar XK or an Aston DB9, which are much better at everything.

probably I would go for a D8, because I like Spyker's style much more than Rolls' one, and I would also go for a DB9 or GranTurismo for when I don't need to travel with someone else or too many luggages. It wouldn't be my first car, just the comfier and bigger one.
I love those aluminum internal pillars, and the cockpit too.
I see it as an alternative to a Phantom, a Rapide in a similar way I would consider an R-Klasse instead of others. But just assuming I would have other cars too, otherwise Maserati Quattroperte kthnksbai.
besides, the D8 doesn't have any off road capability at all, it's just big, but tires are road ones, and even the ride height isn't that of a Pajero (certainly higher than a C8, sure).
let's just say the D8 and the R are my two weakness.

[Kooper]

Just remember that Fungus grows on people too.

I nominate this as a possible quote of 2009. Spot on.

[Ferrer]

Even they know it is bad.

Once More, With Feeling: Second Lagonda concept coming in May

[LeonOfTheDead]

good news, sort of.

Aston Martin is hard at work figuring out just what to do with its Lagonda brand revival plans. The company confirmed plans last year to revive the marque for a new range of bespoke models, the first of which is set to appear in 2012, but exactly what market segments to enter is shaping up to be a difficult question for executives.

While there are only a few years left for Aston Martin to come up with a plan for Lagonda, we've already seen the first concept, which was unveiled at last month’s Geneva Motor Show. The polarizing concept vehicle was based on a Mercedes Benz GL-Class SUV platform but according to the company’s European chief that doesn’t mean Lagonda will be an SUV/crossover brand. Speaking with Autotelegraaf, Aston Martin’s Marcel Beci explained that Lagonda will not have an SUV in its lineup, as the original Lagonda models were about easy-to-drive luxury cars.

This puts some confusion on the whole issue, as the Lagonda concept seemed to reveal that the brand would be leaning towards an SUV-type of vehicle. Mixed reactions from the public may have had something to do with a change in tack, or Beci may be simply trying to pull the wool over our eyes and keep a SUV as an ace up the company’s sleeve.

Speaking last year at the announcement of the brand’s revival, Aston Martin CEO Dr Ulrich Bez said "the revival of the Lagonda brand would allow us to develop cars which can have a different character than a sports car, and therefore offer a perfect synergy. Lagonda will use a unique design language as Aston Martin does. We will take elements of DNA from the past but will be very future orientated as we are with Aston Martin. With Lagonda offering exclusive, luxurious and truly versatile products with high quality and usability and suitable for both existing and emerging markets, I believe we can be present in more than 100 countries in the world."

Beci echoed this view, claiming that in many countries it wasn't an aversion to sports cars that was holding Aston Martin back, but perhaps impracticality. He went on to explain that bad roads in developing countries is a major factor putting off many buyers from Aston Martin’s low slung sports cars – something that could be overcome by building a completely new type of vehicle under the Lagonda brand.

trough motorauthority

[Ferrer]

That still sounds SUV-crossoverish to me.