Take cover! Aston Martin has built a massive, military-grade V12 supertruck

This is a massive, military-grade, zombie-proof combat truck powered by a V12 engine. It also has an Aston Martin badge on it (a company famous for its sleek supercars and grand tourers, not for securing MoD contracts) which is odd. And yes, we know it already makes the DBX SUV… but that’s nothing like this.

It’s called the Aston Martin Dreadnought, which a) suggests Aston may have run out of names beginning with V and b) is extremely cool, given it shares a name with the revolutionary HMS Dreadnought, that rewrote the rule book on naval warfare in the early 1900s. Although, we can’t help thinking Aston missed a trick not calling it the DBXXL.

It’s the latest in a long line of cartoonish, OEM-designed cars born for the digital world and freed from the constraints of physics. Most have appeared as Vision Gran Turismo concepts, often with physical models to back up the pixels. Stuff like the Bugatti Vision GT that previewed the Chiron, the 400mph 2,500bhp Dodge SRT Tomahawk X, Adrian Newey’s Red Bull X1 and the McLaren Ultimate Vision Gran Turismo. In fact, the McLaren actually went into production as the Solus GT… so there’s always hope Aston might do the same.

It’s a collaboration between the developers of the new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 game and Aston’s own design department, so you’ll be able to ‘drive’ it when the game launches in October. In the meantime, they’ve built a physical model, because why the hell not.

It has enormous off-road tyres, more ground clearance than a Unimog, a reserve fuel tank, bespoke weapons storage, enough spotlights to illuminate Wembley Stadium, military-grade armour plating and ‘adaptive combat zone intelligence systems’ whatever those are. So far so warzone-ready, and yet there’s herringbone weave on the exterior carbon fibre, an Oxford tan leather dashboard and door hinges finished in anodised satin gold… the juxtaposition is wild. 

There’s actual Aston DNA in the design too, if you squint a bit. Look at that signature raised lip on the bonnet’s leading edge, the pinched-in waistline, ducktail spoiler (Inspired by the Victor we reckon) and ginormous quad exhausts. And then there’s the stuff that stretches reality a bit: the Dakar-style twin dampers at each corner, totally exposed rear wheels (that means stone chips for every other car within a mile radius) and the cameras for wing mirrors.

You’ll note there’s no actual interior on the model, but we do have some in-game renders of the surprisingly luxurious insides. Lots of leather, a long sweep of screen for all your… tactical stuff, and chunky physical controls in the centre console along with removable storage.

And there’s theory behind the fun, too. This exercise is about introducing Aston Martin - what it looks and feels like, what it stands for - to a new generation who might be teenagers eating Cheetos and playing Xbox in their bedroom today, but the AI billionaires of tomorrow. And which brand will be giving them warm fuzzy feelings? You guessed it… the one they spent many happy hours powersliding around mines and missiles in their bedroom.