After first being revealed in concept form in 2019 — a concept that got almost completely cut out of “No Time To Die” because the near-production design was shown in 2021 between when that movie was initially supposed to release and when it actually hit theaters, thus rendering the concept’s appearance obsolete — the plug-in-hybrid Aston Martin Valhalla supercar is now actually ready to go into production. Luckily for the 999 customers that will own them, the final version of the Valhalla is even better looking and more powerful than we expected.
The last we heard of the Valhalla was almost exactly a year ago when Aston Martin released photos of a camouflaged Valhalla prototype testing, with that car having a handful of styling changes from what the brand had shown in 2021. Now that the camo is off, the biggest differences are in reshaped vents, intakes and other aerodynamic elements, but overall it’s largely the same as what we first saw a few years ago, which is to say the Valhalla is gorgeous. There is so much interesting Formula 1–esque stuff going on here, from the vaned side skirts to the curvy rear diffuser. I love the gills that wrap around the window-less engine cover, the super wide grille and the way you can see the tires through the front fenders.
One specific detail I must call out is the Valhalla’s exhaust. The pair of top-exit tailpipes on the rear deck ahead of the active spoiler are impossible to miss, but there’s an additional pair of exhaust tips mounted just below the license plate frame. Aston says this setup optimizes the exhaust gas flow and makes for a better sounding system, with the top pipes “maximizing visual and aural drama” and the lower pipes controlled by active valves when needed. This enters the Valhalla into the pantheon of cars with similarly wacky split-up exhaust systems like the AMG GT, Bugatti Veyron and Pagani Huayra BC.
What we hadn’t seen anything of until now was the Valhalla’s interior. Though it’s fairly sparse there are enough details to make it seem Aston-y, and it certainly looks more livable than the Valkyrie. The only seat option is a one-piece carbon-fiber racing bucket with minimal padding, which paired with raised footwells give you an F1-esque driving position. A carbon brace runs across the length of the dashboard, with a pair of screens for the gauge cluster and infotainment system floating above it and a set of vertical air vents below it.
The raised center console has Aston’s latest metal toggle shifter and combo start button/drive mode selector, plus at least a bit of storage space and at least one cupholder. The design of the door cards is pretty cool, especially with how the air vents are integrated above the grab handles, and the carbon wheel looks like a race car’s in shape but has all the infotainment and driver-assist buttons intact. Aston says that its F1 team helped with the appearance and functionality of the infotainment system, specifically with the info shown in the gauges, and the system also has a dynamic display showing exactly what the powertrain is doing.
Aston describes the Valhalla as “the ultimate drivers supercar,” and it comes with a lot of firsts for the brand, mostly when it comes to the powertrain. The heart of the Valhalla is a twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8 with a flat-plane crank taken from Mercedes-AMG, which on its own makes 817 horsepower, almost 100 hp more than the AMG GT Black Series it’s from. A further 248 hp comes from two radial-flux electric motors on the front axle and a third mounted in the housing for the 8-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission, for a total system output of 1,064 horsepower and 811 pound-feet of torque. The company estimates the Valhalla will reach 62 mph in 2.5 seconds and have a top speed of 217 mph, but much more interesting than the Valhalla’s power and speed itself is how that power is deployed.
The Valhalla is all-wheel drive, but the axles have no physical connection to each other. The mid-mounted V8 engine only sends power to the rear axle, which has an electronic limited-slip differential. The pair of electric motors in the nose only power the front axle — meaning the Valhalla is front-wheel drive in EV mode — and can act totally independently for torque vectoring. They also take care of reversing duties, as the transmission has no reverse gear. The electric motor inside the transmission is used as the engine’s starter, and it also charges the battery at speed and does torque-fill for turbo lag mitigation. A central integrated vehicle dynamics control system makes sure everything works seamlessly together.
Aston hasn’t said how big the Valhalla’s battery pack is, but it has 560 individual cells and an “ultra-effective” dielectric cooling system that allows for maximum performance to be deployed at any time. The Valhalla will have an electric-only range of around 9 miles, and it’ll be able to do about 80 mph under pure electric power. Speaking of cooling, the Valhalla also has three high-temp radiators in the nose, two air charge coolers fed by the roof scoop and two side radiators (the left for the engine oil and the right for the transmission oil). Oh, and the battery is cooled by the refrigerant system.
A carbon-fiber monocoque designed by the F1 engineers forms the basis of the car, with the upper and lower sections undergoing resin transfer molding. Front and rear aluminum subframes are then attached to the tub; there’s F1-style pushrod suspension with inboard springs and dampers in the front, while the rear has a five-link setup with Bilstein’s DTX adaptive dampers. The Valhalla weighs 3,648 pounds dry according to Aston, which is pretty impressive — with fluids, a Ferrari 296 GTB PHEV was 3,532 pounds when weighed by Car and Driver, and that car has two fewer cylinders and two fewer motors.
Carbon-ceramic brakes with 16.1-inch front discs and 15.3-inch rears have a new power braking system, and there are two forms of regenerative braking in the Valhalla. The majority of the regen comes from the front motors when you hit the brake pedal, but the rear motor will also perform regen when you let off the throttle. Also aiding in braking is the active rear spoiler, which functions as a parachute-like airbrake under heavy braking, raising up 10 inches on hydraulic rams in as quick as half a second. That wing also has an automated DRS function, and there’s a hidden front wing in the underbody. Aston says the Valhalla produces 1,323 pounds of downforce at 149 mph.
Only 999 of the Valhalla will be built, with a likely price of around $1 million. (In 2021, Aston said it would start at $800,000.) First deliveries will start in the second half of 2025. With how tumultuous Aston has been since it first started talking about mid-engine supercars a decade ago, it’s pretty awesome to see the brand finally get the Valhalla into production, especially following the successful launch of the roadgoing Valkyrie.
