Aston Martin Commences Production Of 5.2-litre Twin Turbo Engine

British sports car manufacturer Aston Martin has officially begun production of its new twin turbocharged 5.2-litre V12 engine. The new engine will be manufactured at the Aston Martin Engine Plant (AMEP) located in Cologne, Germany. The turbocharged V12 has been designed completely in-house by the company and will power the upcoming DB11 sports car.

The new engine is tuned to produce a max power output of 608PS and 700Nm of peak torque. Aston Martin claims that with this engine, the DB11 will be the most powerful production DB model ever to be manufactured by the company. In terms of performance figures, the DB11 will accelerate from 0-100 in 3.9 seconds and have a top speed of 320kph. The engine is also equipped with features like intelligent cylinder bank activation and stop-start technology to ensure that the high performance is accompanied with improved efficiency.

Speaking on the production of the new engine, Andy Palmer, Aston Martin President and CEO, said: “AMEP is one of our great success stories and one of the jewels in the Aston Martin crown. To have the ability to design and then manufacture our own high-performance engines in-house is something very special. It gives us ultimate control of quality and that all-important character for which Aston Martin cars are renowned. I have no doubts that our new twin-turbo V12 is the start of an even greater era of success”.

The AMEP was opened by Aston Martin in 2004 and has over 100 highly trained employees. The plant has a production hall of 12,500sqm that has been divided into four sections: one for the machining of the engines’ cylinder blocks, one to machine cylinder heads, an assembly area where a team of specialist technicians meticulously hand-build the engines and one for receiving components and shipping completed engines. Along with the manufacturing of the new engine, Aston Martin will continue to have the production of its 6.0L V12 and 4.7L V8 engines. At AMEP, the V12 engine is built from start to finish by one technician which takes a total of 8 hours to build. The facility has the production capacity to build 8,000 engines in a year. All engines are subjected to stringent cold and hot tests which only after fulfilling the required quality and performance standards are shipped to the company’s headquarters in Gaydon.

The Aston Martin DB11 is expected to be introduced in international markets by the end of 2016 and is likely to be launched in India by 2017.