The Valhalla might be delayed even further with the switch to a Mercedes-AMG powertrain instead of the Aston Martin’s in-house 3.0 turbocharged V6 engine.
The TM01, as Aston Martin calls it, was teased at the beginning of 2020 and promised to be one of its most powerful engines supporting future electrification. Besides, former CEO of Aston Martin Andy Palmer was becoming increasingly restless with AMG’s 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 engines being utilized in their offerings and decided to spearhead this project among the development team.
The all-new 3.0-liter turbocharged V6 was the first engine to be developed by the British marquee since 1969. However, things were looking good for the brand until the pandemic emerged and threw its plans out of gear.
The changes began with Lawrence Stroll investing $781 million into the company and becoming a part of the board. Palmer was then replaced by the then boss of AMG Tobias Moers.
Moers revealed to investors that “Valhalla at the minute will get a redesign.”
“Probably it’s a bit of a different drivetrain than the company thought before because, with the transformational technology agreement with Mercedes, there are other chances for us regarding the combustion engine. But we still have an electrified powertrain; we still have kind of a hybrid style, we still have really breathtaking technology. But we have to talk with our clients first, and we have to show the new Valhalla, so to speak, to our customers. We’re going to do that over the course of the next three to four months,” he said in a report.
The German automaker initially owned a 5% stake in Aston Martin in 2013, which should increase to 20% by 2023. This is evident in its deal to offer conventional, hybrid, and all-electric powertrains along with all safety and infotainment systems at a “reasonable cost.”
One can speculate that the AMG V8 used in Mercedes’s GT 73e and S73e could replace the V6 platform on the Valhalla, but there have been no further details on that yet.
The implications of the V6 platform’s cancellation cannot be ascertained with the person-hours and money spent in R&D. As for now, Aston Martin plans to leverage its status with the sales of the DBX SUV and hopes to come out with the Valhalla and the remaining duo of Valkyrie and Vanquish by 2023.
Moreover, the brand has strengthened its commitment to making 90% of its offerings electrified by 2030.
