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Aston Martin's Racing.Green. strategy lays out sustainability goals

Last year, Aston Martin co-owner Lawrence Stroll said the automaker had two electric vehicles in the pipeline, company CEO Tobias Moers saying the first electric model would show in 2024 or 2025. The English luxury sports car concern has outlined its plans in a new strategy called Racing.Green. — which we will write without the two periods from now on. The major goals of Racing Green are getting a hybrid vehicle to market in 2024, getting the first electric vehicle to market in 2025, phasing the last pure ICE cars out of the lineup in 2026, and offering a fully electrified portfolio by 2030.  Supporting the product goals, Aston Martin says its UK manufacturing facilities have utilized 100% renewable energy since 2019; Racing Green aims for net zero manufacturing emissions by 2030. The St. Athan facility in Wales will be fitted with 14,000 solar panels, enough to provide 20% of the plant's yearly energy use. When taking Aston Martin's entire supply chain into account, the initiative wants a 30% reduction in supply chain emissions relative to a 2020 baseline by 2030, and net zero supply chain emissions by 2039. On that subject, engineers are looking at using aluminum alloy created with 100% renewable energy. Even plastics and water are targeted, the company hoping to "eliminate all plastic packaging waste" within three years and reduce water use by 15%.    As to the product, that first PHEV is going to be the Valhalla and its English-tailored, AMG-sourced, 937-horsepower plug-in powertrain. We still don't know what the first electric model will be the following year, but the DBX makes an obvious candidate. And just a year after that, every model the firm sells will provide the option of an electrified powertrain, the pure ICE models phased out of the range. There will be more choice for interiors, too, in the form of leather-free vegan options. Those goals will occur within a company-wide sustainability, diversity, and inclusion overhaul with peer-reviewed chops. Aston Martin joined the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi), which helps businesses reduce greenhouse gas emissions "in line with what the latest climate science deems necessary to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement." The automaker says Racing Green is also "aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals." In-house compliance with the strategy will be monitored by a board-level Sustainability Committee chaired by non-executive director Dr. Anne Stevens.

Maybach and Aston Martin alliance talks fall apart

If you have, like us, been salivating at the notion of a new generation of Maybach and Lagonda ultra-luxury crafts built by Aston Martin, we've got some bad news: According to reports emanating from Germany, talks between AML and Daimler have broken down.
The proposal under negotiation would have seen Daimler outsourcing production of the next family of Maybach models to Aston Martin, which in return would benefit from Mercedes-Benz platforms and engines - not only for its svelte GTs, but also for its own future Lagonda line of limousines and luxury SUVs. That, and a boatload of money - or at least that's what AML was reportedly seeking, an issue that served as the stumbling block over which the deal reportedly collapsed.
That's not to say the two parties couldn't still reach some sort of a compromise, but short of that, Daimler may opt to either shut down Maybach altogether, find another partner, or take another stab at building new models internally.

Aston Martin's project 003 could have a name: Valhalla

When Aston Martin unveiled the Valkyrie at the 2017 Geneva Motor Show, the carmaker's chief designer told Drive, "We have a bunch more V names that we've thought of and haven't used." Earlier this year, AutoGuide discovered a trademark application for the name Varekai, which Aston Martin will use for its crossover. Now the same site has found another trademark application at the with World Intellectual Property organization, this time for Valhalla, which it expects to be applied to the "Son of Valkyrie," formerly known as 003. The automaker made the filing on October 12, 2018. If you're unclear on all the connections, the Valkyrie was codenamed AM-RB 001, denoting the first collaboration between Aston Martin and the Red Bull Racing Formula 1 team. The Valkyrie AMR Pro was AM-RB 002. That makes the Valhalla, nee 003, next in the chute. The naming inverts Norse myth, since the legends say Valkyries escorted fallen warriors to the Hall of the Slain in Valhalla. In Aston Martin's working, you need to go through Valhalla to get to the ferocious women with the swords. Although not thought to be co-developed with Red Bull Racing, the Valhalla will retain lightweight, carbon-fiber-intensive construction and active aerodynamics like its larger siblings, as well as an active suspension. As a road-legal and more practical step below the Valkyries, the Valhalla includes "space for luggage," and a quieter cabin. Instead of a naturally-aspirated V12, the third member of the family goes with a turbocharged V6 with hybrid help. Anticipated to be a full-on hypercar, the competitive set is thought to include the McLaren Speedtail and whatever succeeds the Ferrari LaFerrari. Aston Martin will make 500 Valhallas, deliveries commencing in late 2021. Before then, don't be surprised to see the Vanquish name return on the company's Ferrari 488 and McLaren 720S challenger. Related Video: