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The first customer Aston Martin Valkyrie is now in production, signalling a bold new era for the British marque

By Rachel Cormack 10 November, 2021
Aston Martin Valkyrie

Deliveries of the 150 hypercars will take place in the coming weeks

Aston Martin Valkyrie
Each Valkyrie will take 2,000 hours to build by hand

After more than a century in the game, Aston Martin has finally built a hypercar.

The very first customer Valkyrie rolled off the line on 4 November 2021, signalling a bold new era for the British marque. The hotly anticipated speed machine, which will be limited to just 150 examples, has now entered full production, with deliveries planned in the coming weeks.

“It is an immensely proud moment for us to complete our first-ever hypercar,” Aston Martin’s CEO Tobias Moers said in a statement. “The Aston Martin Valkyrie programme has tested everyone who has worked on it to the limit but the commitment to the dream has produced a truly incredible car, an F1 car for the road.”

Aston Martin Valkyrie
The Valkyrie’s featherlight body is made entirely from carbon fibre

Indeed, the hybrid ride – the brainchild of Aston Martin and Red Bull Racing – packs the power and tech of a formidable Formula One racer. Crafted entirely from carbon fibre, the featherlight body has been honed for performance. In fact, the underfloor aerodynamics will reportedly generate 4,000 pounds of downforce.

Under the hood, meanwhile, the Valkyrie is fitted with a naturally aspirated V-12 that’s capable of churning out 1,000 hp and an electric motor that can generate an extra 160 hp. This gives the road rocket a total of 1,160 horses and 900 Nm of twist, as well as the ability to rev at 10,500 rpm.

Aston Martin Valkyrie
Each Valkyrie will be fitted with a punishing V-12 capable of 1,000 hp

Like all of Aston Martin’s cars, the Valkyrie is being hand-built at the automaker’s Gaydon headquarters in Warwickshire, England. A team of highly skilled technicians in a special Valkyrie production area will spend some 2,000 hours on each model before it is then tested at the Silverstone racetrack near Northampton, England. You might remember Aston Martin testing three prototypes of the hybrid hypercar here last year with Formula 1 drivers Max Verstappen and Alex Albon at the helm.

Getting the Valkyrie to the production stage has required half a decade of painstaking work. The initial concept, codenamed AM-RB 001, was first unveiled back in 2016, and, now, the US$3.25 million (S$4.38 million) land rocket is finally on its way to collectors. Moers is confident drivers will appreciate his team’s work, too.

“I’m sure our customers will be delighted with what they have achieved,” he said.

Aston Martin

This story was first published on Robb Report USA