Aston Martin AM310 concept shows the next 100 years of Astons

A few days ago Aston Martin revealed their one-off AM310 concept at Villa d'Este, as a sort of foreplay for their upcoming centenary next year. The concept was entered in the Concorso d'Eleganza design-competition, a competition where Aston is a well-known name. In previous years they've taken home the pot with the incredibly sleek One-77 and the V12 Zagato.

According to Aston, the AM310 represents the next 100 years of Aston Martinry, and I'm a bit worried. See, the thing is, the AM310 misses the mark on both relevant levels. Let me explain:

I loved the Aston Martin DB7. I loved the DB9. I loved the V12 Vanquish and so on, but as time went by and models kept on appearing faster than I could pronounce the last ones, I didn't know what Aston I loved anymore because they all looked the same.. DB7, DB9, V12 Vanquish, V12/V8 Vantage, Virage, DBS V12, Rapide, One-77, V12 Zagato, it's impossible to tell the difference unless you've devoted your life to the art of recognizing different 21st century Astons. Thus we've arrived to our first argument, freshness: Nowadays Astons are as dull as a grey-painted drywall. The award for the laziest design department shouldn't belong to Porsche, but rather Aston.

The next argument is that Aston, as well as Porsche, simply got it right the first time. The shape is their heritage. They create pure, beautiful things, period. No need to follow fashion.

The man who designed that splitter should be put in jail for his crime

The AM310 would be acceptable if it would've tried to improve in one of those areas, either be something new or do the old thing with even more grace, but it didn't. It didn't go for anything a 100% and fell somewhere in between. It lost the purity of Aston-design by trying to be fashionable. It's not a timeless work of art because of the ridiculous go-faster bits, and it's not something new either. It's just a race-molested 21st century Aston-shape, and has nothing to it but a slightly raised hp-number, and even that comes with a "probably" attached to it. I hate it on so many levels. It's an Aston ruined to it's bare intestants. I really hope the designers at Aston come up with something new and more representable for the centenary next year.

-HS

Your thoughts on this monstrosity?