Aston Martin debuts the DBX GT at its new Q London venue in Mayfair

Aston Martin has opened Q London, a new flagship on Mayfair's Berkeley Square, and used it to stage the world debut of the DBX GT. The space is both a showroom and the brand's first point of contact for owners beginning bespoke commissions through its Q personalisation service.

The venue takes the ground floor and basement of a 587 sq m unit on the east side of the square, closing out a run of premium brand showrooms in the area. Inside there is room for as many as four cars, specification suites, formal and informal seating and a boardroom.

That boardroom doubles as a private dining space, and the whole scheme follows the template set by Q New York on Park Avenue. The Mayfair address gives Aston Martin a destination event space in the heart of central London, aimed squarely at new owners and at buyers starting one-off commissions.

The car itself is the latest variant of the DBX, a sporting SUV that is now among the more established models in the British marque's range. The GT suffix signals the priority: comfort and luxury rather than the outright performance focus of its sister model, the DBX S.

Grace rather than pace, as the brand frames it. The twin-turbo V8 is far from underpowered, putting out 727PS, but its delivery is tuned to be slightly gentler than in the DBX S. Aston Martin does not yet publish a price for the GT.

The numbers still read strongly. Sixty miles per hour arrives in 3.1 seconds and top speed is 193mph. The exhaust has been retuned to be more discreet in standard driving modes, with a louder soundtrack available when Sport and Sport+ are selected.

Revisions to the chassis are a large part of the change in character. Aston Martin has made the big DBX more pliable over rough road surfaces, and the interior receives added focus on craft and comfort, with plusher, more curvaceous new seat designs.

The exterior styling has been dialled back from the more aggressive versions. A new double-vaned grille emphasises the car's width, and the side strake now carries a two-piece treatment combining one polished element and one satin.

Body colour extends all the way to the lower sills and rear diffusers, and there are new 22-inch wheels in a satin titanium finish. Trim choices include monotone, duotone and tritone options, with textured finishes such as quilting and perforations.

At the rear, an 'individual' seat layout keeps the car's five-seater capability while picking out three distinct places through colour, trim and form. All of it is beneath a standard panoramic glass roof, reinforcing the message that this is a refined grand tourer.

Aston Martin positions the GT as the opposite of a carbon-fibre-swaddled track car. It is a more relaxing and refined iteration of an already accomplished performance machine, the faster sibling softened into something comfortable for long journeys.

Aston Martin itself is best known for the DB line of grand tourers, and its largest shareholder is Lawrence Stroll's Yew Tree Consortium, alongside Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, Geely and Mercedes-Benz. It is a name we cover across our garage section, where it sits among the marques collectors and buyers watch most closely.

We have written about the DBX GT once already, under the headline that it kept 717 horsepower and swapped aggression for comfort. The new 727PS figure this launch confirms nudges that number upward, and the softer chassis tune is the same direction we noted then.

That earlier piece sat among our wider coverage of British motoring, which stretches from the DB5 that tops our classic car ranking to the eleven marques in our guide to the best British car brands. Aston Martin, McLaren and Bugatti also enter our most searched luxury car brands ranking.

What has not been disclosed is the money. Price remains to be confirmed, and Aston Martin has said nothing about the cost of the Q London fit-out or how many commissions the Berkeley Square space is expected to process in its first year.

Q London opens the door for further Aston Martin reveals in central London, and the GT will now reach showrooms as the marque's answer to buyers who want the DBX without its sharpest edges.