Aston Martin Valhalla Supercar To Arrive In 2024 With F1 Technology

Aston Martin says its next mid-engined supercar, called the Valhalla and to sit below the Valkyrie flagship, will go into production in 2024.

The car is powered by a 998-horsepower hybrid powertrain comprising a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 engine and three electric motors. Aston says 999 examples will be built and that the latest set of images are of the final production car—not the prototype we all caught a glimpse of in the latest James Bond movie No Time To Die.

Expected to cost in the region of $800,000 (plus options, of course), the carbon-tubbed Valhalla is the strongest sign yet that Aston Martin wants to take on the Ferraris, McLarens and Lamborghinis of this world. This is the first mid-engined car to be mass-produced by Aston, and although 999 units is still somewhat limited, it’s plenty more than the 150 bespoke Valkyrie coupes (plus 85 spiders and 40 track-only AMR Pros).

Along with a new set of images, Aston this week highlighted how it has leaned on its F1 team to develop the Valhalla, which is claimed to have a top speed of 217 mph and hit 62 mph (100 km/h) in 2.5 seconds.

It’s been a bumpy few years for the Valhalla. It was first revealed in 2019 as a concept car called the AM-RB 003 and designed in collaboration with the Red Bull Formula One team. It sat on Aston’s Geneva motor show stand alongside a prototype of the Valkyrie hypercar, which is currently in production, and a third mid-engined supercar concept known then as the Vanquish.

Aston later parted ways with Red Bull, which was also initially involved with the Valkyrie, and is now using motorsport knowhow acquired from its own eponymous F1 team to turn the Valhalla concept into reality. The British company explains how the Aston Martin Performance Technologies (AMPT) division is helping with the dynamics, aerodynamics and materials of the Valhalla, using insight gained from the cars raced by F1 drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, whose father Lawrence is the executive chairman of Aston Martin.

Claudio Santoni, engineering director at AMPT, said, “It is a great advantage for a car manufacturer to have access to the unique skills and knowledge of a Formula 1 team. F1 engineers are constantly pushing the boundaries in the pursuit of performance and have developed rapid problem-solving tools. With this knowledge ‘in house’ we can seamlessly bring F1 expertise to road car development.”

Aston claims 90% of the Valhalla’s dynamic characteristics and vehicle setup happened in a simulator, with only the final stages completed on the open road. The company also notes how the Valhalla’s interior ergonomics take “direct cues” from Formula One, and that the F1-style seating position, with the driver’s heel raised by a false floor, “has been optimized with support from AMPT.”

F1 technology has also gone into the Valhalla’s under-body aerodynamics, Aston says, while adding that the street-legal car doesn’t have to comply with strict motorsport regulations designed to limit downforce. The supercar is therefore set to benefit from “fully active aerodynamics systems at both the front and rear of the car which will generate over 600kg (1,300 lbs) at 240 km/h (150 mph),” the automaker said. The car’s aero toolbox also includes multi-element wings and a front wing that can lie flat to reduce drag at high speed, like the DRS system used by F1 cars to aid overtaking.

The Valhalla makes use of three electric motors. One sends power to the rear wheels, along with the bespoke V8 engine, and acts as a starter and generator, while the other two motors drive the front axle, where they can use torque vectoring to shuffle power between the front wheels.

Aston says on-road testing of the Valhalla will begin later in 2023, with customer deliveries scheduled for 2024.