Aston Martin's four-door Rapide debuts

2009 Aston Martin Rapide

Aston Martin has released its first four-door vehicle since the 1970s. By RICHARD BLACKBURN in Frankfurt.

Aston Martin's new four-door Rapide is expected to sell for about $450,000 when it arrives in Australia in 2010.

Aston Martin chairman David Richards says the new car should sell for "roughly 10 per cent less" than the current DBS coupe, which retails for just less than $500,000 in Australia.

The car, launched at this week's Frankfurt motor show, marks Aston's return to building four-door cars after two unsuccessful attempts in the sixties and seventies.

But Richards expects the new four-door, a rival to the recently launched Panamera and the more established Mercedes CLS and Maserati Quattroporte, to make up as much as a third of the company's annual sales.

"I expect it will establish a little niche of its own. People like the understated look and style of an Aston. Nobody has yet built a really stylish and elegant four-door sports car," he says.

The V12, rear-drive Rapide flew in the face of convention at a show dominated by electric cars and hybrids.

Its 6.0-litre V12 delivers 350kW of power and 600Nm of torque, completing the 0-100km/h sprint in just over five seconds.

But despite the focus on the environment, Richards says people will always have a soft spot for sports cars.

"We still haven't lost the art of making beautiful cars. Maybe it's a sign of the times that everyone is on our stand," he said.

The car is Aston's first all-new model since Richards and a group of investors bought the company from Ford in 2007.

It was first shown in concept form at the 2006 Detroit motor show and developed from the ground up in a little over two years.

The car was developed on the same underpinnings as Aston's coupe range, but measures more than five metres. Stopping power is provided by 390mm brakes with six piston callipers, while the car also features adaptive suspension damping.

Aston says that only the doors and bonnet are shared with the coupe range, while the extra length and additional seating has added less than 200kg to the car's weight.

The car's six-speed automatic gearbox is mounted to the rear of the car to give it a 51:49 weight balance, while the 20-inch wheels have taller side walls to make the cabin quieter and more refined.

Cars will be hand-built at the company's Austrian plant and customers will be able to visit the factory and choose from a claimed 2.5 million different combinations of paint, options and interior finishes.