The future Aston Rapide has been surprised during testing on the Nurburgring in Germany.
The spotted prototype was featuring a full glass roof for the first time which stretched from a few inches of the windscreen to back window like that of the Rapide concept car unveiled at the Detroit Motor Show in 2006.
The Rapide will be the first Aston Martin to be built outside of the UK. After hesitating between Pininfarina, Valmet and Magna Steyr, company executives chose Magna Steyr. Manufacturing to a third-party company will enable Aston Martin to be flexible enough regarding the future demand for the Rapide.
The future executive saloon will share its inner structure with the DB9 and V8 Vantage models and will be powered by the in-house 6.0-litre V12 petrol engine delivering 480bhp. It is also rumoured that the Rapide might feature a smaller hybrid V6 and V8 engine outsourced from Mercedes. The engine will be hooked up to a six-speed gearbox, with both manual and automatic versions.
Aston Martin plans to build 2,000 Rapide annualy.
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