Aston Martin is being tipped to revive the famous Lagonda name with a luxury saloon car.

Spy shots have emerged of a large saloon car being tested near the Warwickshire car-maker’s Gaydon headquarters.

The stretched saloon shows all the signs of being inspired by the original William Towns designed car which Aston Martin produced between 1974 and 1990.

And Aston Martin gave strong indications the car is set to be produced, in all likelihood under the special edition limited run ‘Q’ banner, rather than as a mainstream model. As such it would follow on from cars like the CC100 speedster, V12 Zagato and One-77

An Aston Martin spokesman said: “I can confirm that this is one of a bespoke series of coach built cars and as we’ve said before, much is possible through Q by Aston Martin – including bespoke offerings, just like CC100 – this is another example. We cannot say any more at this time.”

Aston Martin had been tipped to revive the famous Lagonda nameplate with an SUV, but the emergence of a thinly disguised luxurious saloon car now seems a more likely contender.

The car being tested was powered by a 6.0-litre V12 engine and displayed a series of design flourishes in homage to the original seventies saloon.

Andrew Noakes, author of the book Aston Martin: Model by Model said the car could prove a shrewd move.

He said: “It’s great to see Lagonda back on Aston Martin’s agenda. The Lagonda name is even older than Aston Martin, dating back to the end of the 19th century, the two companies being brought together under David Brown’s ownership in the 1940s. “The big wedge-shaped Lagonda saloon of the 1970s and 1980s got off to a slow start – its complex electronic instruments needed redesign after redesign before they would work properly – but once that was sorted it sold very well.

“The Lagonda was a favourite of oil-rich Saudis, and for a while it outsold Aston’s sports cars.”

Known as ‘the wedge’ the 70s Lagonda saloon marked something of a departure for Aston Martin from its 2+2 sports cars.

The four-door saloon was aimed at bringing in much-needed cash to the company coffers and had the desired effect, though opinion on its merits was strongly divided.

Latterly it was included in Time magazine’s 50 Worst Cars of All Time chart at number 28, being described as “as beautiful a car as ever resembled a pencil box”, “a catastrophe” and “Aston Martin’s Dunkirk”.