The £1.5m Aston Martin Valen is an 838bhp V12 special with a hidden purpose
Aston Martin has launched its latest limited-run model, devising a new ‘V’ name and the most powerful iteration of its twin-turbocharged V12 ever produced
Following in the footsteps of the Cosworth V12-engined Victor, the turbocharged Valour and the track-honed Valiant of 2024, Aston Martin has devised a new 'V' name for 2026, and one special car to go with it. The Aston Martin Valen is the latest creation from Gaydon's Special Vehicle Operations team, shown for the first time at Monterey Car Week in California as an ultra-limited special for the marque's very best customers.
It’s the latest limited-run model of 150 units only, a V12-engined, two-seater, carbonfibre-bodied piece of sculpture. A piece of sculpture capable of 0-62mph in 3.1sec and 214mph flat-out, and one that costs £1.5m before you start personalising it further still.
> Aston Martin Valour review – a £1.5m V12 Aston you could drive daily
On the eve of its launch, there was as much talk about the Valen’s sawtooth side sills as there was the news that, in return for a £550m cash injection, Aston Martin has sold 50.1 per cent of its ‘non-automotive intellectual property and branding rights’. In other words, the rights holder can stick the AM wings on anything it wishes, as long as it isn’t a car.
Less resilient teams would have thrown in the towel by now, but there’s a belief at Aston Martin that things can – and will – improve. Executive chairman Lawrence Stroll is still prepared to raise the funding when and where required (although not always in ways that existing investors/debt holders approve of) and do the deals his team requires to take the next crucial step. The latest financial figures make painful reading, none more so than for CEO Adrian Hallmark, but he remains committed to his turnaround plan and has the backing of those around him – including the Q by Aston Martin team responsible for creating the Valen, a car that shows the ambition remains undiminished.
The Valen (it’s only a matter of time before suitable V-names run out, surely?) continues the bloodline of the aforementioned specials with a design that, rather than chasing aerodynamic performance, adopts a far broader and more expressive style. There are very clear trademark Aston design cues from grille to tail, but amongst these are far more indulgent elements that only such exclusive models allow – and that customers with the necessary seven-figure credit line demand. Don’t expect sawtoothed vortex generators on the sills on your next Vantage.
Beneath the carbon body is a lightened Vanquish chassis with aluminium, titanium, magnesium and carbonfibre used where possible to shed 110kg from the car’s core. A further 16.9kg can be saved if you specify the optional machined-from-solid aluminium suspension arms and knuckles, and the titanium chassis bolts. Together they should bring the Valen’s kerb weight below 1800kg.
Powering this lightweight chassis is the most powerful iteration of the 5.2-litre V12 engine that Aston has produced, with power peaking 14bhp higher at 838bhp, delivered at 6500rpm. Torque remains untouched at a gearbox-preserving 738lb ft, arriving from 2500rpm and remaining until 5000rpm. Said ’box is the same eight-speed ZF auto unit the Vanquish is equipped with (there will be no manual option), only here Aston Martin has taken the shift strategies developed for the Vantage GT4 race car and adapted them to suit the V12’s power and torque deliveries.
It’s not only the transmission that has had a calibration upgrade. Along with extracting those 14 additional horses, the V12’s drive modes have had their ones and zeroes played with. In Sport and Sport + the throttle response is now much sharper than that of a regular Vanquish, with the throttle opening wider earlier in the power delivery phase. Track mode reduces the urgency of the throttle to provide a more progressive delivery for improved high-speed control. Meanwhile the V12 breathes through a new titanium exhaust system, which includes 3D-printed titanium tailpipe finishers.
The steering, Bilstein DTX semi-active dampers, carbon-ceramic brakes, ESP and the chassis’ camber settings have all been upgraded to suit the Valen’s weight loss and resulting performance uplift. Roll and pitch have been reduced, while improved feel and connection are claimed for the steering, the system’s stiffness tuned for improved responses. The rear subframe is now solid-mounted, the springs and helper springs are specific to the car, too. The 410mm and 3560mm brake discs are carried over from the Vanquish, but the 21-inch magnesium wheels are unique and are fitted with a Pirelli P Zero R tyre, or you can specify P Zero Winter 2 rubber should you wish to be a social media star at the next FAT Ice Race or whatever the one held at St Moritz is called.
Regardless of the event any one of the 150 Valens arrives at, its presence will draw smartphones from the next county. While we need to wait to experience the work of Simon Newton, Aston Martin’s director of vehicle performance, the results of Marek Reichman, Aston’s chief creative officer, are already clear to see. Subtle it isn’t, striking it is, and like previous Aston specials, the Valen wears its confidence with unabashed boldness.
The subtle ‘brute in a suit’ look of modern Astons has been traded for a sharp-faced brutalist design fashioned from intricate carbonfibre structures, with functional openings to cool the powertrain and, critically, generate the downforce required to keep splitters and add-on aero devices to a minimum. Combined with recessed slimline headlights that sit beneath the edge of the hooded bonnet, the Valen’s cut-away face is more GT3 racer than concours entrant. It’s a front end you could lie down in front of and stare at for ages, trying to work out where all the air goes once it’s been inhaled.
The deep intake in the bonnet manages airflow for the mighty V12, while the elongated side strakes are now integrated into a prominent and functional vent behind the front wheel to draw turbulent air out of the wheel housing. This air is then forced along the side of the car, where it meets with the air drawn from underneath and exits through those sawtooth vortexes that finish the stepped side-sill. It’s all in the aid of sucking the car to the ground by reducing lift and adding some downforce.
Get to the rear and the treatment is even more extreme. Bodywork is stripped away, with the whole area beneath the large Gurney flap formed from carbonfibre, with perforations allowing heat from the twin high-mounted exhausts to escape. Two additional exhausts sit lower down in the rear diffuser. Above the Gurney, the Vanquish’s rear window and trad bootlid have been replaced by a solid tailgate; the rear quarter-light windows are new, too, and the cut-away rear wheelarches are pure race-bred functionality. It’s as if someone on Reichman’s team looked at a McLaren P1 and thought ‘functional aerodynamic and heat-managing design doesn’t need to look like it was created with a hacksaw’ and set about applying some stylistic licence to a crucial element of the car. The sight of a Valen accelerating long into the distance will be quite the moment, both visually and aurally.
Inside is no less striking than out, although legislation around occupant protection restricts the creative flow a little more. Nonetheless, 3D printing has come to Aston’s aid in allowing the creation of a new slimline centre console, a more prominent start-stop button and drive mode controller, and a new T-bar gear selector. The switch pack has been borrowed from the Valhalla and the sports seats are new. The HMI screen is also angled differently to fit better with the interior trim changes. It may have been revealed amongst the cars at Monterey Car Week, but the Valen’s interior will differ not one bit in the production cars.
Low-volume specials are considered by some as distractions from the larger problems taking place in companies such as Aston Martin. They suggest such cars exist to plug the financial gaps created by the series cars that aren’t delivering sufficient sales volumes. This may be true for the sticker-and-spoiler type specials some have been guilty of in the past, or the anniversary models that appear to offer little more than a paint shade from a few decades ago and a tacked-on commemorative plaque. But just as Ferrari’s Icona Series gives Maranello a canvas on which to express itself more freely than its series-production cars allow, so Aston Martin’s Q cars offer Gaydon the same creative freedom. Yes, they are limited, and yes, only a very select few will ever own one, but just like the Valkyrie and Valhalla, they bring crucial new clients to the brand – people who otherwise Aston Martin might otherwise never reach, and who will hopefully go on to champion the brand. They may also buy a Vantage or three and a DBX or two along the way.
No one would be foolish enough to consider the Valen to be the car that will turn Aston Martin around. The revenue it generates won’t clear the debt mountain (circa £1.3bn at the time of writing), and a good-news story about a recruitment drive won’t be needed in order to put them together. But crucially, Valen should keep the rain away long enough for Aston Martin to live another day.
