Opinion: elbows out for Aston Martin

New hybrid V8 supercar will take the fight to Ferrari, reckons our man

Our cup runneth over. Just when you thought the established mid-engined supercar makers had the sector sewn up, along comes yet another one.

The Aston Martin ‘Vanquish’, or whatever it’ll be called, will join the new Maserati MC20, and the latest Chevrolet Corvette C8, as new entries to the mid-engined fast car realm, alongside, of course, the ones from makers that already operate in this sphere: the Ferrari F8 Tributo and its 296 GTB replacement, McLarens various (the 720S now, and plug-in Artura soon), the Lamborghini Huracán and the Audi R8.

Then of course there are some even more niche choices, like the Honda NSX, an upcoming new Noble M500 (which is proper, proper niche).

Then there's a new Lotus Emira positioned underneath every single one of them, threatening to make them all look a bit excessive.

Lotus says the Emira will be its last petrol-powered sports car and the Porsche Cayman is going the same way, with its replacement to be battery electric.

I sense, then, that there's something of a last hurrah about this influx of mid-engined, big-engined supercars. Small-volume models like these may get an extended fuel-burning stay after more mainstream vehicles have turned electrified, but sitlll, it sounds like a flurry of combustion before the upcoming silence.

Among all of these supercars, then, how would one find sufficient space to offer something unique? To carve out its niche, I think the new Aston Martin would ideally be one of two things: either sufficiently different from the others that there’s a compelling reason to buy one, or clearly better than the rest.

In a market more crowded than some hatchback segments, I’m not sure which is easier. Meantime, who said the supercar was dead?