Aston Martin is pushing ahead with plans to strengthen its image as a bona fide British rival to Ferrari and is readying an entry-level supercar with a mid-mounted V8 to take on the new Ferrari 296 GTB.
It will be the third addition to Aston Martin’s mid-engined supercar line-up, following the launch this year of the Cosworth V12-engined Valkyrie hypercar and the 2024 launch of the V8-powered Valhalla. The trio were shown together for the first time at the Geneva motor show in 2019, but Aston has since undergone a dramatic process of reinvention under new management and ownership, with the evolution of the Valhalla production car testament to a shift in priorities over the coming years.
Like the Valhalla, the entry-level mid-engined supercar – originally called the Vanquish but likely to drop that name, according to company chairman Lawrence Stroll – is expected to be a radically different proposition by the time it is revealed in its final form.
Chief among the changes is set to be a switch from Aston’s own V6 petrol engine to a 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 supplied by majority shareholder Mercedes-AMG. The V8 will be paired with an electric drive unit to form a plug-in hybrid system that will rival today’s most powerful supercars for outright potency.
The Valhalla, which straddles the boundary between supercar and hypercar (and thus commands a price of around £650,000), uses the most highly strung version of AMG’s M178 V8, as featured in the hardcore Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series, with a flat-plane crank and a 7200rpm redline. In keeping with its entry billing – and a price expected to be nearer the £250,000 mark – the less potent Aston is more likely to use the engine in the same state of tune as the Mercedes-AMG GT 63, for a pure-combustion output of around 630bhp.
Aston has already confirmed hybridisation across all of its platforms by 2025, so the new supercar could supplement its reserves with a 201bhp electric motor on the rear axle, like the PHEV version of the GT 63. This would give a combined output of 831bhp, slotting the new model neatly between the Aston Martin DBS and Valhalla on outright power.
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Yet another Mark Reichmann STUNNER. The guy can do no wrong - everything he touches is art.
It's an AutoCar mock-up. I'm sure the digital artist they use will be very pleased with your compliment.
To be fair, often they mock-up a much nicer car than what is eventually released.
So Aston "plans to strengthen its image as a bona fide British rival to Ferrari." By ditching its own new engine and instead buying a German engine from AMG. Utterly ridiculous. I love Aston Martin. I own two, one bought new, one bought used. The someone-else's-engine is an absolute deal breaker. No matter how good the engine may be, if it has a Benz engine then it isn't an Aston Martin. This will be a bona fide competitor to Ferrari when Ferrari uses a Benz engine.
Sadly with Mercedes now the major shareholder you can see where Aston Merc-tin is heading. At least Palmer had the plan to replace the V8 of the Vantage with the V6 Aston engine, certainly in the DBX. But with Moers he's taking the easy way out every time and putting in a Mercedes crate engine.
But they still don't address the fundamental problem they have. Reichman designs aren't selling in sufficant numbers. Maybe then the balance sheet would be good enough for them to invest in Aston?
Now Aston seem to be doing what they've become good at again. Having soft launches of products years ahead to collect and live off the deposits.
That's a nice looking car and should fit the line up nicely. Just so long as Aston also make jaw droppingly beautiful cars as well