Aston Martin Valhalla hypercar 'redefined'

Aston has been forced to effectively start from scratch two years into the development of the Aston Martin Valhalla hypercar after a last-minute switch to AMG’s latest V8 plug-in hybrid powertrain.

According to Aston Martin CEO Tobias Moers, Valhalla is still on track to launch in the second half of 2023, even though the development program had to be “redefined” after he joined the British car-maker from Mercedes-AMG 12 months ago.

The biggest issue for the Valhalla, which was being developed under the AM-RB 003 codename, was its powertrain.

Moers said the development of the electrified ‘TM01’ twin-turbo 3.0-litre V6 was nowhere near complete and that’s why, when faced with the prospect of further huge development costs, potential delays and teething issues, he cancelled the bespoke Aston powertrain for an off-the-shelf alternative.

“There’s no V6 anymore. What I found in the company is not a mature engine. It was a concept engine and if everyone is investing in electric drive you should not be investing in an ICE (internal combustion engine),” Moers told carsales in a recent roundtable interview.

Moers said his intimate knowledge of Mercedes-AMG’s P3 hybrid powertrain, which he claims to know “inside and out”, helped guide his decision.

Not that it will be an easy swap for the Valhalla engineers and designers.

Instead of a lightweight and compact twin-turbo V6, the AMG PHEV set-up blends the M177 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 – as seen in the Mercedes-AMG GT 63 – with a powerful 150kW/320Nm electric motor that’s packaged neatly within a casing that includes a limited-slip differential and two-speed transmission.

Now the complicated bit; in the Mercedes-AMG GT 4 Door GT 73 application, the P3 system was designed for a front engine arrangement while the Valhalla will be mid-engine.

The AMG GT 73 also ‘only’ produced 600kW and 1000Nm of torque, while the Valhalla must produce in excess of 1000hp (746kW) for it to be competitive in the £1 million ($A1.8m) hypercar segment.

Helping boost performance of the AMG V8, Moers says the Valhalla will benefit from the incredible MGU-H (Motor Generator Unit – Heat) electric turbocharger technology to be used in the next-gen Mercedes-AMG C 63 sedan and wagon.

This is technology lifted directly from F1, although Aston’s boss admits huge changes will be required to adapt the M177 V8 twin-turbo to a mid-engine set-up, which could involve repositioning the turbochargers from within the hot-vee to a different location for better engine cooling.

“You cannot take a Black Series engine one-to-one in a mid-engine program. You have to change it, apply different things to that. There are some ideas though,” he said.

With a front-mounted electric motor, Moers also confirmed the new Valhalla will switch from rear-drive to all-wheel drive, a decision he considers “mandatory” for such a high-output but relatively lightweight hypercar.

Speaking of mass, the move to a heavier plug-in V8 would not please Red Bull’s Adrian Newey who had been a key architect of the Valhalla’s development.

Originally, the F1 design and engineering legend had been credited with creating what had been pitched to customers as the ‘Son of Valkyrie’.

But now Moers has confirmed Newey’s involvement with Aston Martin begins and ends with the V12-powered hypercar, suggesting Red Bull had zero involvement with the revised Valhalla.

So significant are the changes to the Valhalla, Moers said he spent last month updating customers who had placed orders for the original car.

“We created the car now in the design studio and it is a really cool car. The company brought it to life as the Son of Valkyrie and you have to assess what you can really achieve in that segment. The promise is in the £1 million ballpark, so there was a need to do the car a bit different,” said Moers.

Once complete, Moers said a development of its hypercar’s V8 plug-in hybrid would also power the small Aston Martin Vanquish that has been created to challenge the Ferrari F8 Tributo.