NO, REALLY

One of the biggest potential laughs in automotive-themed time travel would be to set your dial to the mid-1990s—the beginning of Aston Martin’s Ford era—and roll up to Aston’s old Bloxham, U.K., factory in a contemporary Explorer SUV. Posing as a FoMoCo executive, in your ill-fitting suit, you’d round up a cluster of Aston’s finest engineers. “I want you to make that,” you’d say with a smile, pointing at the Explorer, “handle, ride, look, and sound like that,” swinging your finger over to a DB7 in the car park.

Thankfully, back in the present, the British automaker developed its actual first-ever SUV, the 2021 Aston Martin DBX, on its own terms, unbeholden to any looming corporate overlords. And the result breathes life into our ridiculous fantasy: The DBX is a crossover