Aston shows off ‘mid-range’ Valhalla

Aston Martin has shown off its ‘‘midrange’’ supercar in Auckland, the plug-in-hybrid-V8-powered Valhalla. Might pay to forget about fuel prices for a bit.

The Valhalla represents the middle child in Aston’s three-strong supercar/hypercar lineup. Above it is the mighty Valkyrie, and below it is the yet-to-be-revealed Vanquish.

Aston is positioning the Valhalla right at the likes of the Ferrari SF90, with a mid-mounted flat-plane 4.0-litre twin-turbo engine based on the longstanding Mercedes-AMG unit.

It’s not lifted wholesale though, as Aston has replaced a bunch of internals for Valhalla deployment.

The powertrain has also been electrified, to the tune of 700kW/ 1000Nm, and can send its power to all four wheels, with the ability to go full rear-wheel drive if needed.

It’s a plug-in hybrid too, which means it can run on electric power for distances of up to 15km and speeds up to 130kmh. CO2 emissions are predicted to be less than 200g/km on the WLTP test cycle.

Aston Martin has also used a special new transmission in the Valhalla, an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic that doesn’t have a reverse gear. Instead, it uses the electric motors, which helps keep weight down to a trim 1550kg sans fluids.

The car can also run the electric motors and V8 engine in different gears at the same time, which is pretty awesome and, as far as we know, the first time such a thing has been done on a production car.

We should get more details on the engine later this year. What’s shown here is just an exterior model with a steering wheel – AM said the interior and powertrain are still being finalised, but the exterior is signed off.

And boy is it a pretty thing, far better looking in the metal than in photos. Which says a lot, because it looks fantastic on a screen.

There are lots of curves and divots in the bodywork, all aerodynamically intentional, while the front end is still unmistakeably Aston Martin, even with a massive front splitter.

Lots of work has been done on the floor of the car to improve the aero even further, with Aston claiming 600kg of downforce at 240kmh. That’s obviously still fast as hell, but compare that to the Ferrari SF90’s 390kg at 250kmh.

Around the back are popsiclestick-like taillights taken from the Valkyrie sitting over two enormous Venturi tunnels. Mounted above the spoiler and seemingly about 15cm from the top of the engine are two exhaust pipes.

Hard to see how AM’s engineers will get the sound levels down to legal levels with such little space for muffling, but that’s okay because a flat-plane V8 should be loud.

Considering the interior was literally just a steering wheel stuck to the dash, I can’t comment on that part. But I’m sure the final product will be as beautiful as the outside, at least if other Aston Martins are anything to go by.

Aston is building a maximum of 999 Valhallas, although it will stop early if demand slows down. So far, four are definitely headed to New Zealand, with another three or four waiting to see it in person before committing.

They aren’t cheap either, asking £600,000, or about NZ$1.5 million.

Aston will begin production after Valkyrie wraps up, expected around mid-2023.

In other Aston Martin news, Stuff was told that the next Vanquish will almost certainly be electric, and that the upcoming V12 Vantage will be outputting more than 522kW. Four of those are destined for New Zealand as well.