It looks increasingly likely that Aston Martin will sit out the race taking place between the high-end marques to launch luxurious SUVs, and instead focus on coachbuilt cars for its expansion. Aston Martin’s Lagonda concept from 2009 showed that the automaker was seriously looking at launching an SUV at one point, but with the changing of the guard currently in the process at the automaker it seems plans have changed.

“That was a different time,” Aston Martin design boss Marek Reichman told Piston Heads when asked about the automaker’s plans for an SUV. “It was Ulrich’s [outgoing CEO Ulrich Bez] time. And now we’re in a very, very different time, with a different plan and with a different projection of what that brand [Lagonda] should become.”

Reichman said that Aston Martin is still committed to a Lagonda comeback, but that it won’t be a regular brand full of different vehicles. He explained that Lagonda will be positioned as a “unique coachbuilt experience.”

Proof of this strategy is already underway, with a prototype for an Aston Martin sedan with some retro cues inspired by the original Aston Martin Lagonda sedan spotted in the U.K. recently. Though based on the underpinnings of the Rapide, the new sedans will be highly customized and production is likely to be limited to well under 100 units.

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