Aston Martin is developing a new hypercar that will launch in 2021, with a production run limited to 500 units. For now, the car is known only as Project 003, as it’s the third hypercar in the works from Aston, following the Valkyrie and Valkyrie AMR Pro twins that are currently in development in partnership with the Red Bull Racing Formula One team.
Aston did not reveal many details of the Project 003, which will likely get a real name before it goes into production. The car “will be built around a lightweight structure” and will use a turbocharged hybrid powertrain, a press release from the British automaker said. Aston also promised active aerodynamics with “outstanding levels of downforce” and an active suspension system.
That makes the Project 003 sound a bit like the Valkyrie. Expected to cost somewhere around $3.2 million, the Valkyrie is the brainchild of Adrian Newey, the legendary designer who helped Red Bull Racing win four F1 championships in a row. The Valkyrie was designed to have the aerodynamic qualities of a race car and will have a hybrid powertrain based around a bespoke V12 engine. The standard Valkyrie will be road legal, while the Valkyrie AMR Pro will be for racetracks only.
The Project 003 will be sold only in the road-legal guise and will have more concessions to everyday practicality, according to Aston. So the Project 003 may be to the Valkyrie what the McLaren Speedtail is to the McLaren Senna. The new car will also set a precedent for future Aston models.
“It was always the intention for the Aston Martin Valkyrie to be a once-in-a-lifetime project, however, it was also vital to us that Valkyrie would create a legacy,” Aston CEO Andy Palmer said in a statement. The Project 003 will start “a bloodline of highly specialized, limited production machines that can exist in parallel with Aston Martin’s series production models,” Palmer said.
A new hypercar will also maintain the prestige of the Aston Martin brand as the automaker looks to grow sales volumes with its first SUV. Aston is also planning to sell electric cars and to revive the dormant Lagonda brand. So it should be a busy few years for the company.
