Start with what the Aston Martin Rapide Bertone Jet 2+2 is: a 5-door shooting brake with 5.9 L V12, built from 2013, as electrification stopped being an experiment and the crossover took every market. What it meant takes a little longer. The shape is credited to Barry Weir / Mike Robinson (designer) / Mike Robinson.
How it came about
The Aston Martin Rapide Bertone Jet 2+2 is a one-off shooting brake designed by car enthusiast Barry Weir and the last ever vehicle to be built by car maker Bertone. It was shown at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show.
The car was intended as a one-off special only but considering the positive response, Bertone decided to put the car into small scale production. The company went into receivership shortly after and the production run did not come to fruition. The Bertone Jet 2+2 pays homage to the original Aston Martin DB4 GT Jet which was launched in 1961.
The hardware
The engine is 5.9 L V12. Drive goes through a 6-speed ZF 6HP 26 (Touchtronic II) automatic. The layout matters: the engine sits behind the driver and ahead of the rear axle, which puts the mass in the middle of the car and is why mid-engined cars change direction the way they do. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Family and rivals
In the Aston Martin line-up the Aston Martin Rapide Bertone Jet 2+2 has a clear place: the factory was Gaydon, Warwickshire. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Infiniti Q50, the Tesla Model X, the Peugeot 208. Its Aston Martin stablemates include the Aston Martin Mark II and the Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3.
Aston Martin Rapide