Aston Martin takes aim at future Ferraris with new models

The British luxury and GT car company wants to reinvent itself as a true supercar maker and is planning a car to compete with the best that the Prancing Horse can offer by 2016.

Aston Martin has never had any problems in competing with its rivals in terms of comfort or style. Even when the company has been in the throes of bankruptcy it has somehow managed to keep building cars that redefine automotive attractiveness.

However, in terms of out-and-out performance, it has been falling slowly behind its main rivals for a number of years, and today's range of cars are still a beauty to behold, but are starting to lack in other departments.

This shortfall is one of the reasons why Aston is the only premium car maker that is in the red and losing sales while the rest of its peers -- from BMW to Lamborghini and of course Ferrari -- are reporting record sales and revenues.

But all of that is about to change. According to insiders that have spoken with Autocar, the company is launching what it calls the biggest product offensive in its history which will start with a new DB9.

Scheduled to be unveiled in 2016, it will be powered by a specially built Mercedes AMG V8 engine with twin turbochargers and will also be packed with the latest electronic technology that Mercedes has to offer -- so everything from semi-autonomous driving features to the latest and greatest digital handling and stability controls.

These will be integrated into a new platform developed in collaboration with Lotus so it will be able to find its way around a track.

Aston hopes to have updated all of its existing four models by 2020 with more clearly defined new vehicles, each of which is pegged to challenge whatever Ferrari will be offering in the same price, practicality and performance brackets.