Aston Martin DBX gains touchscreen and goes 707-only

The Aston Martin DBX has gained a touchscreen and is now available exclusively in top-rung 707 guise, dropping the lower-powered 542bhp version of its twin-turbo V8.

The move to a one-engine offering comes in response to the success of the 697bhp range-topper, which accounted for around two-thirds of DBX sales in 2023 and is running at about 90% so far in 2024.

Aston Martin has also removed the mild-hybrid straight-six DBX from sale in the Chinese market, citing rapid shifts in market demand for such powertrains. It has no immediate plans to offer an electrified variant globally.

Due to begin deliveries in May with a 5-10% price uplift taking it to around £210,000, the revised DBX now has essentially the same cockpit arrangement as the DB12 and Vantage, doing away with the dated Mercedes-based set-up that it has had since 2020.

In its place is a new 10.25in touchscreen sited in the middle of the ‘waterfall’- shaped centre stack. It runs Aston’s bespoke infotainment platform, with smartphone mirroring included as standard and a suite of SUV-specific features added, such as hill descent control.

The revamp does away with the four individual drive select buttons atop the dashboard in favour of a toggle-style shifter in the centre console.

It also swaps the digital gauge cluster for a larger, 12.3in screen. Buttons and switches abound, though, which head of product management Neil Hughes told Autocar is in a bid to avoid drivers “fumbling around” to adjust certain settings on the move and to give quick access to the most commonly used features.

Hughes said Aston Martin has reached “peak touchscreen” and keeping a range of physical controls will remain important because that approach “lends itself to craftsmanship”. A raft of more subtle tweaks round off the interior overhaul.

The door handles have been reshaped and the air vents refinished, for example, while there are extra options for the door and dashboard trim materials, and the option of a new Bowers & Wilkins 23-speaker audio system. Changes outside are less obvious.

The revised DBX wears Aston Martin’s latest ‘Wings’ badge and new paint schemes are available. The door handles now electronically ‘self-present’ as you approach the car with the key and the door mirrors have been redesigned and are now frameless.

Underneath, Aston Martin has recalibrated the dampers and claims the DBX’s “response, precision and driver confidence” have been improved as a result. The steering has been retuned as well, to give a greater bandwidth of behaviour between the car’s different driving modes.

The updated DBX follows hot on the heels of the new DB12 and Vantage sports cars and will soon be followed by the V12-powered replacement for the DBS. By the end of the year, each car in Aston Martin’s core line-up will be less than 12 months old.