Aston Martin's Rapide won't get a direct successor

It will be replaced by the DBX, and by Lagonda-badged EVs.

Aston Martin's first SUV, the DBX, is right around the corner. It will join the Rapide sedan as the second four-door model in the company's portfolio, but the two models won't co-exist for very long. The British firm confirmed the DBX will replace the Rapide as its family-friendly model until more luxurious models arrive.

"We're not planning to replace the Rapide in its current form. The Rapide will basically be replaced by the DBX in the Aston Martin range, while the Lagonda SUV and sedan will replace the new, pure-EV Rapide E," said company boss Andy Palmer in an interview with Australian website CarSales.

Aston's decision makes sense; buyers in key markets like the United States and China are increasingly trading in their sedans for high-riding SUVs and crossovers. The company is confident it can make the DBX feel like a true Aston Martin, so motorists currently driving a Rapide shouldn't notice a huge difference in terms of straight-line performance.

There's no word on when Aston Martin will end Rapide production. The sedan was introduced in 2010, and it received a mid-cycle update that brought a more powerful V12 plus small visual tweaks for the 2014 model year. The Rapide E (pictured) will enter production in 2019, but we don't expect the sedan to live beyond 2020.