Aston Martin Developing ‘Brother of Valkyrie’ Hypercar to Rival McLaren P1

If you were to look for a pedigree to produce a world-beating, mid-engined hybrid hypercar to eclipse the likes of the LaFerrari and McLaren P1, a combination of Aston Martin and the Red Bull F1 team would be high on the list of potential candidates. Well, it's now been revealed the two have been working on what until now has been a secret project to develop what's being referred to as "brother of Valkyrie" by the development team.

The goal assigned to the team is to come up with a model that will establish a new benchmark for hypercars in that £1 million+ (US$1.4 million) price bracket by sometime around 2021, which would mean the car could be launched before the established players in this expensive niche segment re-enter the fray.

It's hard to believe, but it was as long ago now as 2013 that the McLaren P1 and LaFerrari were unveiled to the waiting world. It's pretty much established convention that cars of this stature don't get replaced until an extended period of time has elapsed. For example, it was a full 11 years before the Ferrari Enzo was eventually eclipsed by the LaFerrari.

The project's existence has been confirmed by Aston Martin boss Andy Palmer, who explained recently: "It's correct -- we have more than one mid-engined project underway -- more than two, if you count the Valkyrie. This new project will draw on all the know-how we've taken from the Valkyrie, as well as some of its visual identity and engineering capability, and bring it to a new sector of the market."

The limited edition Valkyrie and Valkyrie AMR Pro models have both sold out their production runs despite prices ranging from £2 million to £3 million (US$2.8 million to 4.2 million). At around £1 million, the "brother of Valkyrie" will look like a relative bargain in comparison, so no matter how many are produced they're likely to be snapped up almost immediately.

Palmer has so far refused to comment on the potential powertrain for this exciting new model, although there's plenty of speculation it could be used as a halo project to showcase the electrified technology Aston Martin will have at its disposal at that time. Of course, this would be a hybrid where performance is very much the focus.

Also Watch: