Servicing the extravagant Valkyrie could cost owners close to $450,000 over three years, further testing wealthy car enthusiasts who’ve had to wait years for their vehicle that’s been delayed by a range of issues. Customers who don’t opt to fix their Valkyries through the British luxury-car maker risk voiding their warranties.
Owners may choose a slightly cheaper service plan, which brings down the cost $340,000 over three years, according to a customer email seen and verified by Bloomberg News.
The eye-watering charges could help boost revenue for loss-making Aston Martin, which is in talks with its bankers to address a looming debt pile of roughly $1.4 billion. The company has repeatedly raised cash since Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll rescued it in 2020.
An Aston Martin spokesman said there were more affordable options available, depending on how a customer planned to use the car. He declined to give details of these, citing company policy. The car requires motor-sport engineers to maintain it and the costs are in line with other hypercar service charges, he added.
“We offer a range of highly specialized service plans for the car, aligned to the bespoke requirements and specific usage of our Valkyrie customers,” the spokesman said in a statement.
Maintaining the Valkyrie far exceeds the cost of looking after some other supercars. The Bugatti Chiron, with a similar price tag, costs around $170,000 to service over four years. A four-year extended warranty for the Bugatti Veyron covering everything except tires is set at roughly $200,000. The Veyron was discontinued in 2015.
Despite being a limited edition vehicle that will sell in small numbers, the Valkyrie has been key to boosting revenue at Aston Martin, which said in November it had delivered 67 Valkyries to customers in the first three quarters of 2023.
The Valkyrie is one of the world’s most expensive road cars. It’s designed like a Formula 1 race car, capable of generating the necessary amount of down force to enable fast track driving, especially round corners and bends.
Its launch has been delayed repeatedly as the carmaker worked to sort out electronics issues.
Aston Martin limited the model to 150 coupes, 85 open-top Spider versions and 40 of the track-only AMR Pro variant. Bloomberg Intelligence estimated in 2021 that a single Valkyrie sale makes the same earnings contribution as 21 of Aston Martin’s Vantage V8 models.
First Published Date: 23 Feb 2024, 15:51 PM IST
