Aston Martin DBX S: British brand’s super SUV gets faster – here’s how much it’ll cost

Aston Martin has added extra oomph and trimmed a few kilos from its hulking DBX to create what it calls the ‘most sporting, dynamically capable and enthralling ultra-luxury SUV on the market’.

Debuting today is its new range-topping DBX S model with an upgraded 4.0-litre Twin-Turbo V8 petrol engine boasting an extra 20 horsepower over the most potent example yet – the DBX707 – to create a 727hp school-run super-SUV.

With prices starting from £210,000, order books are open now, with first deliveries expected from late autumn.

Aston Martin says the engine incorporates new turbo technology developed for its Valhalla hypercar that will make the DBX S’s performance ‘even more memorable’.

And the stats suggest it will be blisteringly quick.

Its acceleration time from a standstill to 62mph is a jaw-dropping 3.3 seconds. It will hit 124mph in 7.3 seconds and has a limited top speed of 193mph.

Aston Martin’s super-SUV just got faster: The DBX S becomes the British brand’s most potent family car in its current stable

Aston Martin DBX S: Louder and lighter

A modified exhaust system brings more character and amplification ‘to the natural voice of the thunderous V8 engine’, says the firm based at Gaydon in Warwickshire.

Lightweight options including extensive carbon fibre trim also offer a reduction of up to 47kg over the continuing DBX707, while a new carbon fibre roof option lowers centre of gravity for even more dynamic handling, Aston Martin boffins explained to us.

Three-metre square, this carbon roof panel with a single weave pattern shaves more kilos off the top and ‘is by far the largest such carbon element ever fitted to an Aston Martin’, says the company. 

With prices starting from £210,000, order books are open now, with first deliveries expected from late autumn

Aston Martin says the DBX S is the ‘most sporting, dynamically capable and enthralling ultra-luxury SUV on the market’

A 3 metre square carbon fibre roof option uses a single weave pattern and lowers the car’s centre of gravity. Aston Martin says it is by far the largest carbon element it has ever fitted to a road-going model

Lighter-weight magnesium wheels are also available as an option for the first time on any car in the SUV segment.

Aston says: ‘Magnesium is not only robust, but an incredibly lightweight material, some 75 per cent lighter than steel, It is half the weight of titanium and a third less even than aluminium.

Selecting this 23-inch optional wheel saves a further 19kg – delivering improvements in ride quality, steering precision and feel, as well the car’s more immediate reaction to direction input. However DBX S is also available to order with 23-inch forged aluminium wheels as standard.

Visually, a dramatic new front grille and transformed rear provides DBX S with unmistakeable identity, and customers can also specify a bespoke a lightweight polycarbonate honeycomb grille with more than 56,000 individual sides which all helps shift the weight distribution rearward to aid the car’s handling and traction.

Aston Martin says the engine incorporates new turbo technology developed for its Valhalla hypercar that will make the DBX S’s performance ‘even more memorable’

The most obvious visual changes to the new flagship DBX are at the rear, dominated by quad exhausts now vertically stacked

Lighter-weight magnesium wheels are available as an option for the first time on any car in the SUV segment

It should handle better than before

While the DBX models we’ve come to know are far from slow, the new S should be more dynamically capable than ever.

Engineers have sped up up the steering ratio by 4 per cent to ‘improve agility making the car feel even more sporting and responsive’ as well as reducing the turning circle by half a metre to make it more manoeverable around town.

Suspension enhancements improve primary ride quality and overall stability. 

Even right at the limit, the roll is ‘enough to create the natural feel of the car cornering but still keeping the car flatter than many purpose built, two seat sports cars’, says Aston Martin.

Carbon ceramic disc brakes at each corner (420mm at the front and 390mm at the back) create ‘near inexhaustible braking performance’.

If spotted on the road, the company notes: ‘Visually, the Aston Martin design team have ensured that no one who sees DBX S will be left in any doubt they’re looking at the most sporting, dynamically capable and enthralling ultra-luxury SUV on the market.’

It says: ‘The most obvious visual changes to the new flagship DBX are at the rear, dominated by quad exhausts now vertically stacked and available in both gloss and matt finishes, giving full voice to the glorious sound of the V8 at maximum attack.’

Carbon ceramic disc brakes at each corner (420mm at the front and 390mm at the back) create ‘near inexhaustible braking performance’, the brand says

Aston Martin CEO Adrian Hallmark said DBX S ‘sends a powerful statement of intent about our ambitions not just for DBX, but for the Aston Martin brand’

In the cabin, Aston Martin has lavished the cockpit with distinctive ‘S’ interior styling and options of Alcantara and leather touchpoints

Other tweaks reinforce the SUV’s sportiness including: a new splitter and diffuser; wraparound daytime running lights; carbon fibre wing mirrors, side strakes and lower door sill; and distinctive ‘S’ signature badging on the front fenders.

Aston Martin CEO Adrian Hallmark said: ’The introduction of DBX S not only reaffirms our commitment to producing the most exciting, rewarding and beautiful cars, it also sends a powerful statement of intent about our ambitions not just for DBX, but for the Aston Martin brand.’

‘The marque continues its focus on class leading performance, ultra-luxury design and innovation, broadening the range of products under each core model.’

Aston Martin bosses say the ‘S’ badge has a bloodline dating back to the 1953 DB3 S.

The British marque adds that the DBX continues ‘a fine tradition’ of the luxury car firm using the suffix to denote a ‘special high-performance version of models’.