By Otsile Kadiege

A few years ago luxury marque Aston Martin entered the hotly contested SUV segment with the DBX. Fast forward a couple of years later the Warwickshire based automaker has taken off the veils of a more and aggressively styled DBX dubbed the DBX707.

Exterior design

Upgrades to the DBX’s styling include a larger front grille with horizontal double-edged slats, horizontal daytime running lights (DRLs), redesigned air inlets and optional carbon splitter. The side skirts of the DBX707 are also optionally available in carbon fibre. As standard, the DBX707 is fitted with 22-inch wheels and Carbon Ceramic Brakes measuring 420mm front and 390mm rear. The DBX707 is optionally available with 23-inch wheels. The rear end gains a prominent rear diffuser, larger exhaust outlets with a new sports exhaust system and a roof spoiler.

Interior design

Inside, the DBX707 is fitted with sport seats as standard (comfort seats are available at no extra cost) with 16-way electric adjustment plus heating in front and rear as standard. There are three choices of interior environments – standard-fit Accelerate, which features a mix of leather and Alcantara, as well as the optional Inspire – Comfort and Inspire Sport, which features full Semi-Aniline leather complete with embroidered Aston Martin wings on the headrest, a contrast stripe down the centre of the seat and perforation pattern in the seat back and base cushion.

Customers who want a unique looking DBX707 will have to pay more to get Q by Aston Martin, the brands bespoke service, to help them personalise their cars.

Performance

The big news is what lies underneath the DBX707’s redesigned bonnet with new louvred blades. The Mercedes-AMG sourced 4.0 litre V8 engine now features ball bearing turbochargers and a bespoke engine calibration to liberate more power and torque. It now pushes a whooping 520kW and 900Nm. It’s paired to a 9-speed ‘wet clutch’ automatic transmission which is said to be capable of managing much increased torque loadings and deliver faster gear changes compared to a regular torque converter automatic. Aston Martin claims the DBX707 will sprint from 0-100 km/h in 3.3 seconds and a top speed of 311km/h (193mph) making it the fastest production SUV in the world.

According to Aston Martin, their engineers tweaked the air suspension of the DBX707 to improve body control and steering response thanks to new damper valving and recalibration of dynamic spring volume switching. The e-diff has been carefully calibrated to ensure the DBX707 has the cornering agility, sporting feel and dynamism of a sports car.

Aston Martin South Africa are yet to confirm local availability and pricing.