What's going on here?
The Aston Martin Valkyrie might be one of the most remarkable cars to come out of Gaydon, even the UK, in recent memory.
My christ has the car been through one hell of a journey - here's an overview
Tell me more
The story starts in 2013 when the owners of one of Aston's largest and most profitable dealerships, in St Gallen, Switzerland approached Aston regarding making a car that would eventually become the Valkyrie.
It's a hell of a story but I'm going to paraphrase it to highlight the plight of a Valkyrie owner.
I know what you're thinking.
I don't think I'm going to feel sympathy for someone driving a multi-million hypercar.
Well, put yourself in their shoes.
These people are wealthy, no doubt.
But they haven't done so by being laissez-faire with throwing money around.
Nor by accepting delay after delay.
By the Geneva Motor Show in 2017 when the Valkyrie name was officially unveiled, all 150 coupes had their deposits in place.
A deposit was £500k at the time.
Deliveries were originally intended for 2018.
Then it became 2019.
Then it became 2020.
Then it became 2021.
In the end it wasn't until mid-January 2022 that the first customer car was delivered.
Some customers I'm told are still waiting on their Valkyrie.
So, you've waited since the deposit was paid in 2017 for the car to arrive and after multiple delays it gets here.
Aston's cost cutting exercises ended up delivering a car that was much heavier than originally planned.
Regardless, the car is finally here.
It's immense.
All the pain is in the rear-view mirror?
Not quite.
The first Valkyrie sold at the weekend.
Prices of most Valkyries once specced up were $3,500,000 plus.
One might have expected prices to balloon.
Wrong.
The Valkyrie sold for $3,070,000.
That's a near $500,000 bath on the purchase price.
To make matters worse, servicing for a Valkyrie over three years will set you back over $450,000.
Although, sources suggest there is a cheaper servicing package at $340,000.
Oh, and if you don't follow the service schedule you risk voiding your warranty.
To put that in other words, if you'd have bought a Valkyrie you'd have:
- waited over 5 years for delivery
- been delivered a car that was rather different to what was promised
- based on initial estimates currently taking a $500,000 haircut on the resale value
- a bill staring you down the barrel of c. $400,000 to service the vehicle
Why should I care?
Like I said this isn't about getting the tissues out for the owners.
Rather this episode is reflective of a market for new collector vehicles that has well and truly moved on from even a few years ago where if you were lucky enough to be allowed to purchase a limited-run vehicle you'd be fairly sure its value in the short-term would only head North.
That's no longer the case.
If this was of interest, this article here details the story in all its fascinating detail - well worth a read if you can spare 10 minutes.