Lagonda Taraf

Lagonda Taraf
Lagonda Taraf at the Goodwood Festival of Speed
Overview
Manufacturer	Lagonda (Aston Martin)
Production	2015–
Assembly	Gaydon, Warwickshire, United Kingdom
Designer	Marek Reichman
Body and chassis
Class	Full-size luxury car
Body style	4-door saloon
Layout	FR layout
Dimensions
Wheelbase	3,190 mm (125.6 in)
Length	5,397 mm (212.5 in)
Width	1,917 mm (75.5 in)
Height	1,389 mm (54.7 in)

The Lagonda Taraf is a four-door luxury car built by the British car manufacturer Aston Martin. The Lagonda marque which was established in 1906, has been owned by Aston Martin since 1947. Only 200 cars will be built, each of which is priced at $1 Million.

The Lagonda brand was founded in 1906 by Wilbur Gunn. Lagonda won the 1935 Le Mans 24 Hour race with a Lagonda M45R driven by John Stuart Hindmarsh and Luis Fontés. The company however filed for bankruptcy soon, and was brought by Alan Good, who outbid Rolls-Royce Limited for the company. In 1947 it was brought by David Brown, who had also brought Aston Martin.

Aston Martin decided to revive the Lagonda brand in 2009, to expand outside its traditional sporting realm into untapped segments like luxury sedans and celebrate Lagonda's centennial anniversary. "The Lagonda brand would allow us to develop cars which can have a different character than a sports car," said CEO Ulrich Bez in a statement. "Lagonda will have its own niche with luxurious and truly versatile products suitable for both existing and emerging markets".

The 4WD 4-Seater concept SUV it unveiled, in collaboration with Mercedes-Benz at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show, met with mixed reviews. This led to plans for bringing the Taraf getting prioritized, with Aston Martin beginning work on Project Comet (the initial code name for the Taraf).

The project was undertaken by Aston Martin's Q division which specializes commissioning bespoke cars and customizing existing models to specifications. The final full size model was completed in 8 months of the first studio sketches in January 2014. Marek Reichman attributed the swift execution to lessons learnt from the production of the Aston Martin One-77, which took two years.