A close-up look at the Aston Martin DBX

There is also a steeply-raked rear hatch with a relatively narrow rear glass and topped by a hefty spoiler.

At hand as a guide was Andy Haslam, DBX project manager, who cautioned that the body sculpting is not the final ‘Class A’ skin – a reference to the production body panels stamped from the final press tooling.

But he also revealed that this prototype, part of a small fleet of hand-built cars that will ratchet up millions of test miles has to be largely representative to make that work worthwhile.

I warm to the look and am not shocked that in front of me is a large, tall five-door car with an Aston badge – that moment came through years ago at Geneva when the three-door DBX concept was unveiled.

Another feature of the DBX catches my eye. The ‘catwalk’, or the body styling line that runs the length of the bodyside, is very pronounced and twists as its flows towards the hatchback rear. If this shape is representative of the production styling, the DBX will look very handsome from the front three-quarter.

The bodyside is also remarkably ‘waisted’ in the lower section of the doors. This is a favourite styling feature of Aston chief designer Marek Reichman. His sports cars, most notably the One-77, feature a cabin considerably narrower than the front and rear axles, creating a ‘waist’ in the centre section of the car.

In a more practical car like an SUV, this feature can’t be fully deployed, so instead Aston has drawn in the body skin in the lower area of the doors. From some viewing angles it’s a very distinctive styling feature.

Judging the size of the DBX is tricky— it looks more than 5m long – but guidance from Aston suggests ‘Porsche Cayenne’ size, which would place it closer to 4.8m. Maybe the DBX’s roofline is significantly lower, emphasising the length?

I also take a sneak peak inside the DBX cabin, which is kitted out with a basic interior and a rear-seat bench fashioned from plywood. My guess is that the rear will be no more than a two-seater, also a function of the distinct narrowing of the body around the rear hatch.