Aston Martin teases new hypercar

Aston Martin has released the first official teaser image of its upcoming hypercar. This new hypercar, codenamed the Project 003 and also called the ‘son of the Valkyrie’ by the car’s development team, will sit below the Valkyrie in Aston Martin’s line-up. Jointly developed by Aston Martin and Red Bull Advanced Technologies, just like the Valkyrie, the hypercar is likely to be unveiled at the upcoming 2019 Geneva motor show.

According to Aston, the new hypercar will be built around a lightweight structure and will be powered by a turbocharged petrol-electric hybrid powertrain. The powertrain size and output have not been disclosed yet. Though unlike the performance-focused Valkyrie, the Project 003 will pay more attention to daily usability, luggage space, and road manners; which is not to say performance will take a back seat.

The British marque has stated that although the Valkyrie will be labelled a hypercar, it will offer performance of an entirely different category compared to the trinity of the McLaren P1, Ferrari LaFerrari and the Porsche 918 and even to the newer special editions such as the Senna and potentially the Senna GTR. The Project 003, when it arrives in production form, will offer performance of a lower level, equivalent to the hypercar trinity.

Before the car enters road-legal production run, the Project 003 will race for outright victory at Le Mans in 2020, according to Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer. The debut fits in with the Le Mans regulation changes to put road-derived and concept hybrid cars in the top category, meaning the new car could race against models such as the McLaren Senna.

Aston has also stated that only 500 units of the Project 003 will be built globally and will be homologated in left- and right-hand drive form. Current speculation suggests the car will be priced around the £1 million (Rs 9.30 crore) mark. Aston Martin and Red Bull Advanced Technologies are also working on a Ferrari 488 rival as well which should be revealed by 2021.