Earlier this week Dyson shocked us all with news it will be making an electric car, and to confuse things further, Aston Martin has decided to make a submarine. And just like the British brand’s recent F1-related announcement, the new project is more of a rebadging exercise than a total technical partnership.
Launched in collaboration with Triton Submarines, Project Neptune is supposed to appeal to the discerning Aston Martin customer, who wants to travel underwater – as well as on land. It’s basically the DB11 of submarines, and it does at least look the part.
“Project Neptune is defined by its sleek, elegant exterior,” said Marek Reichman, executive vice president and chief creative officer at Aston Martin. “We have used forms and proportions that express the same devotion to design, engineering and beauty that shape our cars.”
Although it’s just a concept design right now, Aston Martin Consulting, the brand’s design arm, says the partnership “will lead to an exclusive, strictly limited-edition vehicle.”
Aston Martin says the submarine will be able to dive to depths of 1,650ft and travel at up to 3.5mph. At 5.9ft tall and just 8,800 pounds, Bloomberg says it will also be the smallest and lightest submarine in the world.
When it’s released in a year’s time, you can expect to pay a huge amount of money for it. According to The Verge, the new submarine will cost around £4 million pounds – making it even more expensive than the Mercedes-AMG Project One hypercar.
Why are Aston Martin doing this?
Carmakers like Aston Martin are slowly trying to turn themselves into verstaile luxury brands. Projects like Porsche Design, and Jaguar’s Bremont watch range, are designed not only to turn a profit, but also to elevate brands to more than just a carmaker.
Project Neptune is another – albeit slightly more unusual – version of that trend.
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