Live out your Bond fantasies with Aston Martin's submarine
Vodka martini presumably included.
Aston Martin, the company behind James Bond's whip, has partnered with Triton Submarines on a submersible concept called "Project Neptune" for incredibly well-heeled folks. It's the first design from Aston Martin Consulting, recently formed to design and market things to oil barons and Silicon Valley types with nothing else to spend their cash on. The platform is based on Triton's 1650/3 LP (low-profile) sub, but Aston Martin says it will be a "strictly-limited edition vehicle."
The 1650/3 LP three-place vehicle is described as a "super-yacht" sub, which is apparently all the rage among the ultra-wealthy. And marketing images show supermodels using the remote arm to grasp an underwater bottle of champagne. The price for that model starts at a cool $3.3 million, but expect a massive mark-up from Aston Martin for what is, admittedly, a much cooler design.
Aston Martin has also broken out the rich-dude marketing talk. "Project Neptune is defined by its sleek, elegant exterior," said VP and Chief Creative Officer Marek Reichman. "We have used forms and proportions that express the same devotion to design, engineering and beauty that shape our cars." Triton also uses words like "passion," "timeless" and "truly exciting," denoting that this thing will cost a fortune.
Still, that talk is likely backed up by some serious performance. You'd be able to take "Project Neptune" down to 500 meters (1,650 feet) and run for 12 hours, if it keeps the specs of Triton's 1650/3 LP sub. (Triton also makes a sub that can go down to the Marianna Trench at 36,000 feet.)
Anyway, for now it's just a design, but we're certainly curious to see the concept sub. Perhaps Aston Martin will break it out in a new Bond film? It's no Lotus, but it'll have to do.
