The Aston Martin DBX S aims to take the brand’s performance SUV to new heights

Variations. One word that's at the heart of how the luxury auto industry functions. It's all very well having a flagship sports car model, but unless it's available in a sufficient number of tangibly different variants - convertible, ultra-light race spec, four-wheel-drive, grand tourer, etc., etc. Porsche sells no less than 20 different versions of its evergreen 911, whilst there are no less than eight different ways of ordering a Bentley Continental GT.

Although all this choice is slightly redundant given the infinite complexity of bespoke options, this part of the market is driven by novelty. If you want a customer to change up to a new car in just a couple of years, you’d better have a new car to offer them.

That’s why Aston Martin has launched the DBX S. Previously, Aston Martin’s only SUV was represented by just a single model, the DBX707. That’s all very well and good, but after the initial flush of novelty wears off, where do you go next? Up until now, the answer has been into the hands of a rival. Instead, Aston has reasoned that it needs to go one louder in order to stay in the game.

Hence the introduction of DBX S, a new flagship SUV. The ‘S’ suffix isn’t new to Aston Martins – we have fond memories of the Rapide S, V12 Vantage S and Vanquish S from back in the day. In fact, AM has been making ‘S’ cars since 1953, when the DB3S racing car replaced the earlier DB3.

In modern times, S has been applied to production cars, usually concomitant with an upgrade to power and dynamic abilities and maybe a reduction in weight. DBX S is no different, with the option of shaving up to 47kg of weight over the 707 thanks to elements like a carbon fibre roof. Throw in a bit more power squeezed from the twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8, up 20PS to 727PS, and you have a monumental – and massive – five seat performance car.

Co-incidentally or not, that modest power upgrade ensures the Aston Martin is now more powerful – by just 2PS – than the Ferrari Purosangue. Ferrari might be besting Aston Martin on the Formula 1 track, but on the road the rivalries are closer.

The parts that deviate from the ‘standard’ DBX707 have required a fair amount of technical boundary pushing. That optional carbon fibre roof covers almost three metres square, making it the large single carbon element ever fitted to an Aston.

Another featherweight option is a polycarbonate honeycomb grille and the DBX S is also the first SUV to be offered with lightweight Magnesium 23” wheels. Another option box that the company is hoping to get ticked is the Bowers & Wilkins audio system, specially developed for DBX S with no less than 1,600W of power.

Thus far, no price has been announced but you can expect the S to start from rather more than the £211,500 cost of the DBX707. Delve deep into all the options for lightweight trim and tech and you’ll be looking at around £300,000.

Aston Martin DBX S, available soon, AstonMartin.com, @AstonMartin