An Aston Martin Rapide V12 super sedan, as seen at a car modification market in west Beijing last summer. The Aston looked absolutely brilliant, painted in Crystal Purple with forged alloy wheels and red brake calipers.
The Aston Martin Rapide arrived in China in 2010, at the high point of the supercar-buying era in China. Being rich was good, buying expensive cars was better. Aston Martin was on a roll, the Vantage and the DB9 sold like crazy, there we many Aston Martin dealers and clubs, and the British brand was a major sponsor of luxury-good events.
The Aston Martin Rapide was a sporty five-door liftback based on the VH platform, which also underpinned the DB9. The Rapide was the first series-produced five-door car by Aston Martin ever. It was produced from 2010 until 2020, with a major facelift in 2013, when it was renamed to Rapide S.
The car we have here is an original 2010-2012 example, with cool V12 badges on the front fenders. Power came from the famous naturally aspirated 5.9-liter V12 engine with an output of 477 hp and 600 Nm. The motor was mated to a six-speed Touchtronic automatic gearbox, sending horses to the rear wheels.
The top speed of the Aston Martin Rapide V12 was 303 kilometers per hour and 0-100 took 5.3 seconds. That made the Rapide the quickest liftback sedan on the Chinese supercar market at the time.
The interior was more luxurious than sporty, with shiploads of leather and classy wood. The instrument panel came with Aston’s typical round dials with a shiny gray rim.
The Rapide was basically an extended variant of the DB9, so it wasn’t exactly spacious in the back. Two narrow seats and a super wide arm rest section, with a single air vent and two small-diameter cup holders. In the middle is a rotary dial to control the air conditioning.
The Aston Martin Rapide was an expensive car. In 2012, it sold for 3.688 million yuan, making it one of the most expensive cars on the Chinese market, competing mainly with Bentley. Today, Aston Martin isn’t as popular in China as it was before. The brand is perceived to be old-school with a lack of exciting new models. Even the DBX SUV didn’t really catch on. Add to that the changing general political-cultural-economic landscape in China and it seems Aston is in for a rough ride.