New versions of the Vantage and Vanquish will follow, plus Palmer has confirmed that there will be a hybrid four-door model along the lines of the DBX crossover that was shown at this year’s Geneva motor show. The final element of the plan will be an extension of the Lagonda brand, which the company revived last year. Originally intended only for the Middle East, the limited run of 200 Lagondas has since been made available worldwide which, says Palmer “sets the platform for bringing back Lagonda properly later on”. The Aston Martin Vantage GT12 powers up the Festival of Speed hillclimb Key to the success of Lagonda, he says, will be a new electrical architecture. “It’s the hardest car to engineer because that class of car you’re competing with Rolls-Royce and Bentley and they both sit on very sophisticated platforms. We now take technology from Mercedes-Benz, and that gives us access to many of their sophisticated systems such as lane keeping assist, plus radar front and rear, which we don’t have.” Does this mean we are also heading towards self-driving technology on an Aston Martin too? Palmer: “No. I see some things, for example, self-park, being quite useful on an Aston because visibility is a little challenging. But other things like lane keeping and distance control I think tend to take away from what the customer wants.” Palmer was driving the first of 100 limited edition Vantage GT12s at the Festival of Speed, a £250,000 road racer that sold out prior to anybody seeing it. He might have the weight of Aston Martin’s future on his shoulders, but he’s clearly relishing the role, and the enthusiasm people hold for his company’s cars. “What’s nice about the Festival of Speed is that you see all the kids falling in love with cars,” he said. “In the industry we tend to talk about kids falling out of love with cars. This event restores your faith.” For all the latest news, advice and reviews from Telegraph Cars, sign up to our weekly newsletter by entering your email here Watch the livestream of Goodwood Festival of Speed 2015 Watch: Ken Block's hill climb at Goodwood Festival of Speed 2015 World's fastest man crashes at Goodwood
Andy Palmer is working on a four door pure electric car with 1,000bhp with plans to go into production in 2020. Speaking to the Telegraph at the Goodwood Festival of Speed CEO, Aston Artin explained a prototype for the car already exists but is not officially part of the company's six year plan yet. Engineers are currently working on developments of where to place the car battery so it will maintain a 50/50 weight distribution. If the car's development are a success it will join plans by Aston Martin to overhaul their current line up of vehicles making the company financially sustainable for the future.