Aston Martin’s Mid-Engined Ferrari/McLaren Rival Is a Go

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We’ve previously told you about Aston Martin’s aspiration to create a mid-engined supercar that will be a direct rival to Ferrari, McLaren, and Lamborghini. Now we can confirm that the project is indeed happening and that it will benefit from the closer “innovation partnership” that Aston has announced with the Red Bull Racing Formula 1 team.

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Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer said the company’s recent return to profitability has allowed him to confirm all parts of the brand’s ambitious product plan, one that will see the launch of seven new model ranges by 2023. The first of these was the DB11, which made its debut last year; it will be followed by replacements for the existing Vantage and Vanquish, then a production version of the DBX crossover. Beyond that, there will be two different Lagonda models and, most intriguing, a mid-engined supercar aimed squarely at rivals such as the Ferrari 488GTB and the McLaren 720S.

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While admitting this is a new endeavor for the brand, Palmer insisted it is an obvious direction for Aston to take as the company looks to expand production and profitability. It also will benefit from some of the lessons being learned by the Valkyrie project, Aston’s 175-unit moon rocket (pictured above).

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“The majority of luxury sports-car manufacturers sit in that space,” he told C/D. “Ferrari, Lamborghini, and McLaren are all there. When you talk about a two-seat sports car with this level of performance, they are all in that space.

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“What you have to do is to make the car of the decade and then allow that technology to trickle down. You establish your credibility there, and you establish credibility in Formula 1. That’s a well-trodden route, whether Ferrari or McLaren.”

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Aston is getting increasingly involved in Formula 1 through a title partnership with the Red Bull Racing team starting next year, with the sports-car maker also considering whether to make the jump to becoming an F1 engine manufacturer.

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Red Bull and Aston are jointly setting up an Advanced Performance Center. The new center’s projects will include the mid-engined supercar, but Palmer is keen to emphasize that development will be led by Aston Martin’s own engineering team.

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“The Valkyrie is the most extreme model,” Palmer explained. “The track-ready version has to sit very much in the collaboration with Formula 1. But as you move closer to a core vehicle, then obviously [there is] more influence from the road-car side. There will be Red Bull involvement in that car, of course, but the engineering lead will fall to the guys here. They will be consulting particularly around things like aerodynamics, where they obviously have huge expertise.”

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There are many unanswered questions at present, so we can look forward to filling in the blanks over the next few years, with the most obvious being what powertrain the car will use. Palmer acknowledged it will have to be pretty special: “Clearly, in our portfolio today we don’t have an engine that’s capable of giving us the output we require. Whether through collaboration with our friends at AMG or whether by ourselves, we will have to find an answer.”

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Let’s hope it’s a 12-cylinder answer. Although the supercar project is still in its infancy, Palmer said it is already firing up the company’s engineering talent.

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“It’s sketches and basic engineering layouts at the moment, but nevertheless it lives beyond this office,” he said. “Normally when you’re doing something radical—and what we do here every day is pretty radical—you have to plant the seed, and then it takes some nourishment. But as you can imagine, this seed didn’t need much nourishment.”

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