By LAWRENCE TAN

After announcing that it will indeed revive the Lagonda marque, and launching the limited edition 1-million-pounds-per-unit One-77 supercar, Aston Martin is poised to make a move upmarket as part of the British luxury marque’s new branding strategy for the next decade.

Specifically, the plan is to price its top-selling models – the DB9 and the V8 Vantage – more in line with the likes of Ferrari while limiting the production of both models, Autoweek reports.

This could mean that the new Vantage will start at a price closer to the DB9’s current tag, and accordingly push the price of the DB9 closer to the US$265,000 DBS. This could also herald the entry of the Vantage successor, the Rapide, at a higher price point.

Meanwhile, Lagonda’s revival by the end of this decade would also allow Aston Martin to compete with the likes of the Bentley Arnage, Rolls-Royce Phantom and Maybach, and open up new markets for Aston such as Russia, China and the Middle East.  

The new branding strategy and subsequent cuts in production numbers would also allow Aston Martin to make all its cars in-house at its Gaydon facility, which currently builds 7,000 cars per year. For example, the new four-door Rapide, to be built in Aston Martin’s Magna facility in Austria could be shifted to England after 2010.

The above image is copyright protected, and an intellectual property of Luxury-Insider.com. Additional images in this story are courtesy of Aston Martin and Autoblog.

www.astonmartin.com