Lagonda Taraf
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The Lagonda Taraf is a four-door full-sized
luxury car A luxury car is a car that provides increased levels of comfort, equipment, amenities, quality, performance, and associated status compared to moderately priced cars. The term is subjective and reflects both the qualities of the car and the ...
manufactured by
Lagonda Lagonda is a British luxury car brand established in 1906, which has been owned by Aston Martin since 1947. The trade-name has not had a continuous commercial existence, being dormant several times, most recently from 1995 to 2008 and 2010 to 2 ...
, a marque owned by British automobile manufacturer Aston Martin since 1947. The Arabic word "taraf" means ultimate luxury in English. Initially, Aston Martin announced that 120 units would be built and that Taraf would be sold exclusively in Middle Eastern market. Then, Aston Martin revised its decision to increase the production number to 200 and extend the sale to Europe, South Africa, and United Kingdom.


History

The
Lagonda Lagonda is a British luxury car brand established in 1906, which has been owned by Aston Martin since 1947. The trade-name has not had a continuous commercial existence, being dormant several times, most recently from 1995 to 2008 and 2010 to 2 ...
marque was founded in 1906 by Wilbur Gunn. It won the 1935 Le Mans 24 Hour race with a Lagonda M45R driven by
John Stuart Hindmarsh John Stuart Hindmarsh (25 November 1907 – 6 September 1938) was an English racecar driver and aviator. Career Hindmarsh was educated at Sherborne, Dorset and then attended the Royal Military College. He joined the Royal Army Tank Corps in ...
and
Luis Fontés Luis Fontés (26 December 1912 – 12 October 1940) was a British racing driver of Brazilian parentage who, along with John Stuart Hindmarsh, won the 1935 24 Hours of Le Mans for the Lagonda automobile company and won the inaugural Limerick Gr ...
. The Lagonda Rapide V12, introduced in 1939, was the most expensive car in the United States at the time of its launch. The company soon filed for bankruptcy however due to failing customer interest in luxury and sports cars brought on by the Great Depression and the onset of the Second World War. The marque was bought by Alan Good, who outbid
Rolls-Royce Limited Rolls-Royce was a British luxury car and later an aero-engine manufacturing business established in 1904 in Manchester by the partnership of Charles Rolls and Henry Royce. Building on Royce's good reputation established with his cranes, they ...
. In 1947, Lagonda was bought by David Brown, who had also bought Aston Martin. The brand came back in 1976 after decades of being inactive with the introduction of the
Aston Martin Lagonda The Aston Martin Lagonda is a full-size luxury four-door saloon manufactured by British manufacturer Aston Martin between 1974 and 1990. A total of 645 were produced. The name was derived from the Lagonda marque that Aston Martin had purchas ...
luxury saloon, badged as an Aston Martin model. However the model was discontinued in early 1990, effectively killing off the brand name as well. Aston Martin decided to revive the Lagonda brand in 2009 to expand into untapped market segments and celebrate Lagonda's centenary.Aston Martin to Revive Lagonda Nameplate
– Automobile.com
The resulting four-wheel-drive, four-seater concept saloon, unveiled in collaboration with
Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...
at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show, met with mixed reviews. The company then focused on development of the Taraf under Project Comet (the initial code name for the car). It is, as of , the final car produced under the Lagonda brand.


Design

Project Comet was undertaken by Aston Martin's Q division which specialises in commissioning bespoke cars and customising existing models to customer specifications. The final full-sized model was completed within 8 months of the first studio sketches in January 2014.
Marek Reichman Marek Paul Reichman (born 1966) is an English industrial designer currently working as Chief Creative Officer and studio head at Aston Martin. Early life and education Reichman was born in Sheffield, then in the West Riding of Yorkshire. to an ...
attributed to the swift execution to lessons learnt from the production of the
One-77 The Aston Martin One-77 is a two-door, two-seater flagship sports car built by the British car manufacturer Aston Martin. The car was first shown at the 2008 Paris Motor Show, although it remained mostly covered by a "Savile Row tailored skirt" ...
, which took two years to complete from design to conception. The car was intended as a homage to the Lagonda model, produced between 1976 and 1990. A total of 645 of those cars were produced, each of which took 2,200 man-hours to build.


Specifications and performance

The Taraf is powered by the 5.9-litre ''AM11'' V12 engine, generating a maximum power output of at 6,650 rpm and of torque at 5,500 rpm. The engine was assembled at Ford's bespoke Niehl engine facility in Cologne, Germany. Power is transferred to the rear wheels via an 8-speed ZF automatic transmission. The chassis utilises the
Aston Martin VH platform The VH Platform (for vertical/horizontal platform) is Aston Martin's automobile platform that underpinned their grand tourers and sports cars. It served as the basis for Aston Martin's production cars up until the introduction of the Aston M ...
(VH410), shared with the Rapide. The body panels are made of carbon fibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP) and receive a seven-layer paint finish prior to final polishing. The goal of using this material was for weight reduction. The interior included elements borrowed from other Aston Martin models, mainly the Rapide, and features console-mounted push-button transmission controls, an infotainment system, a 1,000-watt Bang & Olufsen BeoSound audio system and premium quality leather upholstery. The interior had various choices of trims, ranging from wood to carbon fibre. A long wheelbase gave increased legroom for rear seat passengers. The Taraf has a claimed acceleration time of 4.4 seconds and a maximum speed of .


Production

Top Gear Top Gear may refer to: * "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission Television * ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme * ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the or ...
reported that the Taraf was undergoing hot weather testing in
Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...
in September 2014. The car was put through of testing in four weeks in temperatures ranging between 30 and 50 °C in order to test the air-conditioning system, drivetrain and interior trim. The car was subsequently unveiled at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show. The car commenced production in 2015 with the company stating that only 100 cars would be built solely for the Middle-East market. The Taraf was manufactured in Aston Martin's plant in
Gaydon, Warwickshire Gaydon is a civil parish and village in Warwickshire, England, situated between Leamington Spa and Banbury. In the United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 census, the parish had a population of 376, increasing to 446 at the 2011 Census. The village ...
. When Andy Palmer took over as the CEO, he had the car's potential markets expanded to include Europe, USA, Singapore and South Africa. He also had the total production goal increased to 200. As of 2015, only 40 cars were produced. The car was the most expensive four-door saloon in the world as of April 2016. The Taraf made an appearance at the 2015
Goodwood Festival of Speed The Goodwood Festival of Speed is an annual motorsports festival featuring modern and historic motor racing vehicles taking part in a hillclimbing, hill climb and other events, held in the grounds of Goodwood House, West Sussex, England, in l ...
. Production ended by December 2016, with 120 cars being sold.


Lagonda Taraf "Final Edition"

At the very end of production, 4 LHD Lagonda Tarafs were created under the "Final Edition" Specification. Priced at £550,000 with an additional deposit of £250,000, They can be distinguished from other Lagonda Tarafs with additional "standard features"; they are: * Ultramarine Black paint with Volcano Red accents * 10-spoke Silver Diamond Turned Wheels * Solid Sterling Silver Lagonda Wings Badge with red transparent enamel * Q fender badges * A Duotone interior in Aurora Blue & White Essence interior with "snowflake perforated seats" * Caspian Blue carpeting with Dark Blue Lambswool floor mats * Bespoke Red trans-enamel rotaries * Bespoke Quliting Pattern on the seats, doors & hatshelves * Final Edition sill Plaque * 3 Piece Lagonda Luggage (in Aurora Blue)


Reception

The car received positive reviews on release, with most reviewers citing the steep price as the biggest downside. Angus MacKenzie, in his review for ''
Motor Trend ''MotorTrend'' is an American automobile magazine. It first appeared in September 1949, and designated the first Car of the Year, also in 1949. Petersen Publishing Company in Los Angeles published ''MotorTrend'' until 1998, when it was sold to ...
'', wrote the following: "This $1 million saloon, hand-built by Aston Martin, costs more than five times as much as a
Mercedes-Maybach S600 The Mercedes-Benz W222 is the sixth generation of the S-Class produced from 2013 to 2020, the successor of the W221 S-Class and the predecessor of the W223 S-Class. The W222 was designed during 2009. The original design proposal of the car wa ...
. Yet it matters little to the people who will buy the Taraf that the Maybach is technically the more accomplished ultra-luxury saloon." '' Autocar'' was also critical of the price, saying "Without context that price tag looks ridiculous. For the same money you could buy both a
Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupé The Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupé is a luxury car manufactured by Rolls-Royce Motor Cars that debuted at the 2008 Geneva International Motor Show in Geneva, Switzerland, on 6 March 2008. The platform is based on the 2003 Rolls-Royce Phantom and ha ...
and a Bentley Mulsanne plus a fully-loaded Range Rover SV Autobiography on the side."


References


External links


Lagonda Taraf on astonmartin.com
{{Aston Martin
Taraf ''Taraf'' ("Side" in Turkish) was a liberal newspaper in Turkey. It had distinguished itself by opposing interference by the Turkish military in the country's social and political affairs. It was distributed nationwide, and had been in circulati ...
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