here’s no logic to cars like this – they’re
entirely selfish propositions,’ smiles
Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer. At
the same time he prods one corner of
a chart that neatly positions the range
of cars he’s working tirelessly to put
in place; territory occupied by some
famous and formidable foes.
‘Ferrari, Lamborghini and McLaren,
essentially,’ continues Palmer. ‘Until
now we haven’t had a mid-engined car.
Or, more accurately, we haven’t had a
rear/mid-engined car; all our current cars are mid-engined, albeit with the
engine at the front. You can talk about polar moments of inertia – a car
with the engine tucked behind the driver turns in more quickly – but this
isn’t about logic. Cars like this appeal on an emotional level.’
Here, then, is the car you probably thought you’d never see – a series-
production Aston (let’s park the Valkyrie Red Bull collaboration for a
moment) with the engine in the middle. Officially, for now, this is the
Vanquish Vision Concept. Come 2022 it’ll hit the road as the Vanquish. ‘A
£200k, 200mph Ferrari 488 and Lamborghini Huracan rival at the lower
end, with derivatives that push that up towards Aventador,’ says Palmer.
It’s a bold move, one that feels right and entirely unnatural at the same
time. While clearly a battleground worth contesting – Lamborghini sold
some 3000 Huracans in 2018, while McLaren shifted 4806 cars, all of them
mid-engined – it is both fiercely competitive and populated by names with
considerably greater mid-engined pedigree than Aston Martin. Which of
course has virtually none.
‘It is a competitive market, which is both exciting and intimidating,’ says
Palmer. ‘You have three amazing players: Lamborghini, which is doing
really well at the moment, taking chunks out of Ferrari; Ferrari, who are
just Ferrari; and the underdogs at McLaren, who’ve ramped up the pace of
development across the board. We’re going into a crowded space.
‘We don’t have 70 years’ expertise in mid-engined cars,’ continues Palmer
[Ferrari’s first mid-engined road car was the 1967 Dino, Lamborghini’sthe 1966 Miura]. ‘We’ve had to create that DNA, and to do that you have
to be best. That’s why we went into Formula 1 [with Red Bull] and why we
created Valkyrie with Adrian [Newey, the da Vinci of F1 aero] – to cover off
70 years of historical deficit. Us announcing this car three years ago would
have been incredulous, but now we have a mid-engined story. This is going
to sound terribly arrogant but in my humble opinion there is no other car
like Valkyrie; never will be. The comparisons being made to the AMG
One and McLaren Senna don’t do justice to how amazing Valkyrie will be.
In creating the halo car first we’re doing the opposite of what most mass
car companies would do, which is start at the bottom and work up. It’s a
bolder strategy because you don’t make a lot of money from halo cars, and
most automotive CEOs need to go where the pot of money is. But I’ve been
allowed time to create the DNA and legacy that legitimises our car.’
In development and with many aspects of its performance still fluid,
the new Vanquish will use a bonded structure rich in aluminium and
reinforced in key structural areas with high-performance composites. ⊲APRIL 2019 | CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK 71T
‘It’s a £200k, 200mph Ferrari 488
and Lamborghini Huracan rival,
pushing up towards Aventador’
Andy PalmerThe heat
flooding out of
here will come
from Aston's
own new V6WE MADE THIS
▲
Andy Palmer
Aston Martin CEO
Palmer’s patiently
renewed Aston’s core
cars while hiring the talent
to build a car with genuine
Ferrari-beating potential.▲
Max Szwaj
Chief technical officer
Who better to lay down
the technical foundations
of your 488 fighter than
the man who created that
Ferrari?▲
Marek Reichman
Chief creative officer
The guardian of elegance
in performance car
design, he’s deftly
transitioned Aston design
into its mid-engined era.▲
Joerg Ross
Chief engineer,
powertrain
Former Ford, Maserati
and Ferrari F1 engine guru
is fluent in both petrol
engines and electric.▲
Adrian Newey
CTO, Red Bull Racing
The Jimi Hendrix of
automotive aerodynamics,
Newey shaped Valkyrie –
and in turn helped sculpt
Vanquish.