Lagonda SUV cancelled

GOODWOOD, ENGLAND // Aston Martin has stopped work on its Lagonda project. The company had planned to launch its own luxury four-door SUV to rival the Porsche Cayenne and would have badged it as a Lagonda. Only three months ago, Dr Ulrich Bez, Aston Martin's chief, described the Lagonda as "the luxury car of the future," as the car maker speculated it would receive strong demand for the product from this region and from China. Predictably, the economic crisis is the reason cited by Aston Martin for this not unexpected change of direction.