Aston Martin: Valkyrie is Marketing for Volume Mid Engine Car

“First and foremost, it’s a marketing tool,” Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer said in a recent interview with Automotive News Europe. “But more specifically, it’s about creating a fertile environment for our volume mid-engine car.”

Palmer said the Valkyrie won’t lose the company money, as many other hypercars doubling as marketing tools do, but it’s still being viewed as a marketing expenditure for its first mid-engine model. After all, the British brand has never built a mid-engine supercar before, so it needs to convey to consumers that it can hang with the likes of Ferrari, Lamborghini and McLaren.

“It won’t lose money, but it was never designed to be a big money generator, because we are only making 150 of them,” Palmer said. “That is the role of the mid-engine Ferrari 488 competitor. You can view the Valkyrie as advance marketing spend.”

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Deliveries of the Valkyrie are set to commence next year, while the volume mid-engine model will arrive in 2020. Information is scarce, but Aston Martin says it doesn’t currently have an engine in its portfolio capable of producing the power it wants its yet-to-be-named mid-engine model to have. In an interview last year, Palmer said the car could feature an engine acquired through its powertrain partnership with AMG, but the company is open to looking elsewhere.

The mid-engine model will be one of several new Aston Martin models set to debut in coming years, joining the sporty DBS Superleggera and the DBX SUV. The automaker is also launching its Lagonda luxury sub-brand, which intends on launching both an SUV and a sedan by 2021.

Those all sound great, but if you’re anything like us, then you’re really anxious to see the finished Valkyrie.

[Source: Automotive News Europe]
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