In the future the V12 engine will become a historical footnote in the same way steam powered trains have become. Car companies must move with the times their production rhythms set by regulations and laws. Aston Martin has taken a bold decision to axe the V12 Rapide in favour of an all electric power plant. The Rapide EV is due to go on sale in 2018, eventually the Rapide will be phased out entirely and replaced by the DBX, Aston’s all new SUV which will go on sale in 2020. The driving force behind the switch to an electric powered Rapide is the V12 which will become too costly to re-engineer in order to meet new and tighter emissions regulations. The RapideE as it may be called will have a whopping 800bhp and a range of around 260 miles. Williams F1 Advanced Engineering division are developing the powerplant. The burden of the development costs are being shouldered by Aston Martin who took out a loan from ChinaEquity, a private merchant bank. China is one reason why Aston Martin is developing the RapideE, the country now has one of the toughest emissions requirements anywhere in the world in a bid to clean up its environmental record. Aston is expecting China sales to increase over the coming years and the eventual replacement for the Rapide, the DBX SUV, should rubber stamp a sales increase in the region. The current Rapide and the RapideE are merely stop gap solutions before new models eventually replace them.