ASTON Martin has dumped what it calls “horse and carriage design”, revealing a Lagonda-badged, battery-powered electric saloon that will shape future products from as early as 2021.

The Lagonda Vision Concept, unveiled at Geneva overnight, is the start of what the British luxury marque says will be a “new range of state-of-the-art, emission-free luxury vehicles”.

“Lagonda aims to be the world’s first zero emission luxury brand. It will confound traditional thinking and take full advantage of the latest advances in electrification and autonomous driving technologies, which amount to the biggest revolution in land-bound transportation since the invention of the car,” it said.

Part of that design includes a rear-seat setup that looks a little like a therapist’s room, featuring a jump seat next to an extended banana lounge-like recliner surrounded by acres of space.

“Because the majority of the car’s structural strength comes through its floor, it has been possible to use apertures in the body far larger than would be wise in conventional cars,” Aston said.

“Similarly, the front seats are not mounted on conventional runners which always interfere with where those in the back would like to place their feet, but instead sit on cantilevered arms extending from the floor outside the seat frame providing a completely uncluttered floor area. And the seats are more like armchairs, with heavily bolstered arms because, given the choice people always use arms to lower and raise themselves from chairs.”

The lack of a conventional powertrain has been a real positive for Aston Martin.

The concept is what Aston claims is a level four autonomous car, meaning that it is able to handle most of the driving itself. There’s still a traditional steering wheel for the driver, although it’s more of a hexagonal blob that looks a bit like a luxury version of a Formula 1 tiller. But if you’d prefer the Lagonda to take care of the daily commute, both front seats can swivel around to face the therapy session in the back. Oh, and if you’re driving from Britain to the Continent, the steering wheel can swap sides.

“The Lagonda Vision Concept provides the first clues to the Lagonda models of the future. It embodies the vision to be a standalone marque that will break through long-standing boundaries and transform the way people perceive luxury transport,” it said. “And as with the concept, this will be done through the use of cutting-edge design, creating technologically radical, visually spectacular, thoroughly modern and ultra-luxurious vehicles that will overturn conventional thinking.”

In other words, there’s much, much more yet to come out of Gaydon.

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