Vehicle manufacturers Aston Martin Lagonda and Airbus Corporate Helicopters recently announced a partnership – and now the first offering from this collaboration has been revealed – the Aston Martin ACH 130 Edition. Baroque Aviation has all the details
The CH130 Aston Martin Edition was revealed in the chic resort town of Courchevel in the French Alps in January. This stylish special edition helicopter is equipped with a range of four different exterior and interior designs that were created by Aston Martin. Each is unique and will delight helicopter owners and pilots who already appreciate the pleasure of driving and owning a high-performance bespoke Aston Martin luxury car.
Aeronautical designers at Airbus Corporate Helicopters (ACH) worked closely with the automotive designers at Aston Martin for more than a year to marry the helicopter manufacturer’s key values of excellence, quality and service with the Aston Martin’s commitment to handcrafting, beauty and automotive art. The result is a unique set of aesthetics and meticulous attention to detail that the helicopter market has never seen before.
The new Aston Martin ACH 130 Edition helicopter offers four external designs with complementary interiors. The finished products are embellished with Aston Martin signature elements including Aston Martin’s iconic wings, that are embossed onto luxury leather features throughout the cabin.
The first aircraft has a Stirling Green theme with a painted gradient fading into Jet Black on the helicopter’s underside and Skyfall Silver painted around the cowlings. The other three color schemes include Xenon Grey, Arizona or Ultramarine Black exteriors.
The interior offers an unsurpassed level of comfort. It is trimmed with Pure Black Ultrasuede and a palette of leathers – Oxford Tan, Pure Black, Cormorant and Ivory. The rear of the front seats all feature the identical brogue detailing found in a DB11. In the helicopters, it runs down the center of the seat. The doors are trimmed with leather.
Each special edition helicopter will feature a plaque ion the instrument panel that shows the partnership logos, the edition number and the owner’s name, if they wish to have this included.
Said Aston Martin Vice President and Chief Creative Officer, Marek Reichman: “This first application of our design practices to a helicopter posed a number of interesting challenges, but we have enjoyed working through them. Beauty is of vital importance to Aston Martin and to our customers and we think the ACH130 Aston Martin Edition is an inherently beautiful machine. It provided a wonderful canvas for our team to work on.”
Frédéric Lemos, Head of Airbus Corporate Helicopters, also commented: “The ACH130 Aston Martin Edition is optimally positioned in the market for hands-on owners who draw satisfaction from personally piloting their aircraft and it generates strong brand-loyalty. In the same way Aston Martin’s products are cars for drivers who relish being at the wheel and they inspire a comparable attachment to the brand, so are they the perfect partner for us in developing this superb new ACH130 Aston Martin Edition.”