Production-ready Aston Valhalla revealed testing
Aston Martin's plug-in future kicks off for real in the new year - here's your best look yet
No doubt you’ll be familiar with the premise of the Aston Martin Valhalla by now, but a brief refresh for those that need catching up (it’s been another hectic old year). This will be Aston’s first plug-in hybrid, combining an evolution of AMG’s flat-plane crank 4.0-litre V8 with a trio of electric motors for more than 1,000hp, and there will be 999 units made, with production finally kicking off next year. Aston says the car you see here represents ‘the forefront of Aston Martin’s transition from internal combustion to hybrid to full electrification’.
This prototype resembles something a little different to the show cars seen up until now; as they all do, in fairness, as development evolves and progresses. The front end seems wider than ever, presumably a result of cooling and aerodynamic requirements; the lights now look more familiar from the rest of the range, too. None of the impact has been lost from the profile, the Valhalla still with gaping intakes, dramatic creases in the bodywork and - amazingly enough - regular rear-view mirrors.
The snorkel remains, encouragingly, and while these Silverstone images don’t show the rear of the car (maybe significant changes are still afoot), it’s hard to draw your attention away from that astonishing spoiler, the first time we’ve seen it raised. And it’s demonstrably going to be a brilliant rear diffuser when it looks this good from the side. It isn’t clear yet whether the exhaust pipes exiting from the rear deck will stay, however, as there seems to be both a pipe poking out from the rear and perhaps an opening on top.
There’s plenty more still to be discovered, basically, though it would seem the Valhalla project is definitely on track (no pun intended). Which is more than could be said not that long ago. Plenty waiting for the Aston, too, from cars as extreme as the Ferrari SF90 XX Stradale to benchmark supercars like the Lamborghini Revuelto. Both have hybrid help to 1,000hp or so, and very clever ways of getting that power to all four wheels. It’ll be fascinating to see Aston’s take on the new school mid-engined exotic template - bring on 2024.
Even though I'll never even own a £100,000 car either, I'd much rather read and ogle over that level of car. A car that can actually be used day-to-day. A car you can actually aspire to own one day if all the stars align....even if you are already 50 years old.
Now that it's nearly with us, I'm afraid I share the other views expressed here: it's now derivative, way too late and (most probably) way too expensive to hold the remotest interest for a current Vantage owner. I just hope they make enough money on these to fund the development of the more affordable models.
BUT -- an Aston Martin must be an Aston Martin, and IMO that requires an Aston engine. When this was going to use Aston's new V6, which was very far through its development, it was interesting to me. Then Stroll and Moers killed the engine and decided an "Aston" can use someone else's engine. I disagree. I love Astons, but there is no way I'd buy this, with someone else's engine (doesn't matter how good that engine is), when there is a Ferrari available that has, of course, a Ferrari engine.
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