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Power, Beauty and Soul
The DB9 was first shown to the public at the 2003 Frankfurt Motor Show. It followed the DB7 and links design-wise to both that car and the much more modern and more defined Vanquish.
DB9
This first generation DB9 is seen by many car designers worldwide as a very strong design. In order to fully understand this, it is important to look at the car in detail and, in particular, to analyze the predecessor of the DB9, the Vanquish, designed by Ian Callum. That Vanquish is a bit inconsistent, whilst the DB is the embodiment of automotive design perfection.
Various places on the Vanquish nose, for example under the headlights from grille to fenders, the skin is forced around the corner and in other places it is too hard and squeezing: pinching in professional car designers language. Around the door, that skin heavy and clumsy. The skin around the hip is undefined and the bulge on the door is more an expression of obesity rather than muscle strength. In other places the surfacing looks thin - for example, the concave sills seem almost formed from paper rather than embodying volume and strength. The front spoiler feels also terribly thin and fragile.
Then the DB9. True sculptural perfection. First of all, the fantastic, elongated proportions are very important to mention. A good car design starts with good proportions. The Vanquish is a bit rough. The DB9 ratios are not only unique and distinctive, but can also be beautifully linked to the Aston Martin heritage. Because typical of the Aston's from the 1960s is that those cars do not look brutal, rough or raw, but elegant and graceful. The gentleman express. And it is precisely this that the DB9 achieves so well. In a world full of sports cars on steroids with anger management issues, this car is a truly well-trained gentleman - looking sleek in his tailored London Savile Row suit. With a consistency of skin that appears to have grown, rather than put together. The British have a wonderful word for it: effortlessness.
This car is also very well, three-dimensionally designed. For example, the shapes go “through the wheels” from the front to the rear. The subtle, but just sufficiently present thickening at the bottom of the front bumper, which makes a beautiful light catcher flowing onto the doors towards the side of the car, is a striking example of this. It makes the car have a fantastic stance, it sits very nicely on its feet.
The grille is perfectly recessed into the nose and is the starting point for a subtle upright facet that runs along the bonnet, adding visual volume to this upright facet. It is then defining the shoulder at the bottom of the line towards the back whilst the top of it goes into the A-pillar. The headlights are perfectly positioned on the front fender, exactly where they should be. Ad on top of that they are nonaggressively shaped too. They aren’t angry, but look into this world openly and friendly.
The car is very pure on the side - this is far from simple to achieve- and all the shapes that are seen emphasize the length and elegance of this sculpture. The hip grows beautifully, it increases in volume towards the rear. Where the taillights, completely in red, close the rear-end very simply and visually light because of the body colored insert. The cabin rests on the hips in a beautifully defined round shape running from fender to fender over the boot lid. The design of the rear is also clean and consistent. The visual weight of the body-colored element in the C-shaped taillights has the same tension as both the license plate holder and the highlight on the bumper under the taillights. The designers at Aston Martin truly did a magnificent job. This car is the definition of automotive perfection.
DB11
Imagine, especially after this hymn about the DB9, the important and difficult task assigned to the designers of Aston Martin: come up the successor for this DB9. It is both a huge honor and a potentially terrible doom scenario at the same time. How can the perfect Aston Martin ever be improved?
It cannot. That is the only correct answer. Chief Creative Officer Marek Reichman and his design team must have realized this. When the DB9 followed the DB7 and the Vanquish, the DBS and the Virage were built, that specific, almost legendary Aston Martin shape was finalized. It was therefore time for something new. It was also essential to stay far away from an imminent design burdens; because this is what a fixed pattern, that must be complied with, presents to designers.
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