Does the world need a four-door Aston Martin?

I think Aston Martins are among the most beautiful cars in the world. All the way from the lascivious haunches of the DB2 to the curvaceous Vanquish and the DB9. So why the new four-door Rapide concept that Aston showed off at the Detroit Auto Show?

Yes, Maserati did the Quattroporte, Bentley has done the new Flying Spur, and of course Porsche is considering the Panamera - all four-door cars from vaunted super-car manufacturers. Let us say nothing of the execrable Maserati Biturbo, but I think stretching a sports car to accommodate two more doors for the sake of "brand extension" is akin to the folly of Volkswagen thinking that people would pay for a luxury car with a W12 engine called a Phaeton, from the one-time maker of conveyances for groupies of the Grateful Dead. Brand Extension. More like brand extinction if you ask me.

All of that doesn't alter the fact that Aston Martins are among the most beautiful cars on the planet. Even with four doors.