The DB11 debuted at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2016, with manufacturing beginning at Gaydon in September 2016. Designed by Marek Reichman, it was the first car of Aston Martin's 'second-century plan' and replaced the DB9. The DB10 was never a production car. The DB11 is a 2+2 grand tourer with swan-hinged doors on a bonded-aluminium structure.
The car launched with an in-house-designed 5.2-litre twin-turbocharged V12 — the first turbocharged series-production engine ever fitted to an Aston Martin. From summer 2017 a 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged Mercedes-AMG M177 V8 was added, materially lighter than the V12 and with a different weight distribution. In May 2018 an AMR version replaced the standard V12 after only about eighteen months in production. Volante production, V8 only, followed in 2018. The 5.2 twin-turbo V12 introduced with the DB11 would go on to serve in the DBS Superleggera, V12 Vantage, V12 Speedster and Valour.
The DB11 is the opening statement of Aston Martin's second-century plan, the introduction point for the marque's first turbocharged series-production engine, and the last mainstream Aston to offer a V12. It sits at a pivot between the VH-platform DB9/DBS era and the DB11-derived bonded-aluminium platform that carries through to the current DB12 and Vantage.
