First look inside of British brand’s new Ferrari-baiting supercar
The pieces of the Aston Martin Valhalla jigsaw puzzle are coming together, with its interior revealed for the first time and confirmation that the wild new British supercar is scheduled to enter production by the end of 2023.
carsales scored an audience with the latest Valhalla concept car during its tour of Australia, which Aston states is “95 per cent” complete externally and around “90 per cent” finished in terms of the interior.
It’s been a long road since the Valhalla – originally called the AM-RB 003 – was revealed as part of Aston Martin’s ambitious future product showcase in March 2019.
Back then it was to be powered by a 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 allied to the hybrid system from the Valkyrie hypercar, with 500 units to be produced at a price of £1m.
Since that time the architect behind Aston’s plan, ex-Nissan executive Andy Palmer, has departed the company, as has his replacement – former Mercedes-AMG boss Tobias Moers, who made the decision to ditch the V6 for a 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 and increase the production run to 999 examples.
The good news is the price has come down to £667,000, though by the time you convert it to Australian currency, add local taxes (luxury car tax alone will be around $A400,000) and a few options, we wouldn’t expect much change from $2 million.
For that you’d expect something pretty remarkable and the Valhalla should deliver. In addition to the 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 there is a trio of electric motors – one at the rear and two at the front – fed by a 150kW/400V battery.
Initially, Aston Martin claimed power would be in the region of 700kW, but this has now increased to 745kW, along with 1000Nm of torque. Thanks to the all-wheel drive capability provided by those front electric motors, 0-100km/h acceleration claimed to be 2.5sec and top speed 350km/h.
To make the most of this power there’s a carbon monocoque that’s draped in panels designed to manipulate the air. Active front and rear spoilers, in addition to substantial underfloor aerodynamics and one of the biggest rear diffusers you’ll ever see on a road car, combine to suction the car to the ground, Aston claiming 600kg of downforce at 250km/h.
This will be key in Aston Martin achieving its goal of a sub-6min30sec goal of the Nurburgring Nordschleife. Should this occur, it will make the Valhalla the quickest production car ever, besting the 6:35.183 time set by the Mercedes-AMG ONE hypercar.
The Valhalla’s suspension is provided by racing car specialist Multimatic, mounted inboard at the front to reduce unsprung mass, with variable-rate springs and dampers.
Giant carbon-ceramic brakes are standard and they’ll need to work hard to stop the Valhalla, as Aston’s target dry weight is a substantial 1550kg. Blame the hybrid paraphernalia.
On the upside, the battery pack allows up to 15km of electric-only running at speeds up to 130km/h and will allow Aston Martin to claim an official CO2 consumption of less than 200g/km.
The latest Valhalla concept car now allows you to lift the dihedral doors and step inside, where you’ll find a race car-style driving position, heavily reclined with your feet in line with your hips and the quartic wheel mounted high and relatively close to your chest.
Initially, the seat was to be fixed in the carbon tub and the pedal box would move, but for production this will be other way around. The production interior will also sprout a central infotainment touch-screen with smartphone mirroring (hopefully wireless as phone storage will be sparse) and the Valhalla will also have a 360-degree parking camera and a full suite of active safety equipment.
The Aston Martin Valhalla hasn’t had the easiest of gestations, but if it delivers on its promise it will give the British brand a halo model to rival Ferrari and Lamborghini.
We’ll know just how good it is when we finally get behind the wheel of the finished product.
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Keyword: Aston Martin Valhalla 2023: Interior preview