With Bentley announcing the end an era with the announcement that it will be retiring its iconic but ancient 6.75-liter V8 engines in favor of a state-of-the-art V6 Hybrid (which will still backstopped by Crewe’s relatively newer W12 and V8 engines), it’s no surprise that another British automotive institution—Aston Martin—is revealing that is going with 6-cylinder power as well.
Six cylinders under the hood of Aston Martins aren’t new, of course. These cars became icons in the 60’s thanks to James Bond, circa Sean Connery. This was the era of the timelessly beautiful DB5. The only (and very big) difference with the upcoming sixes is that while the classic Astons had an inline-6, the new generation will have a V6, presumably for packaging purposes, as the next-gen Aston Martins will have a mid-engine layout as well as hybrid power.
And now Aston Martin has revealed further details of its in-house-designed V6 engine, which has been developed for a new range of mid-engined sports cars, starting with the Aston Martin Valhalla from 2022.
Codenamed TM01 – celebrating Aston Martin’s illustrious engineer of the 50s and 60s, Tadek Marek – the engine has already undergone a series of extensive testing on the dyno, as the team makes progress towards creating the luxury British brand’s first in-house-designed engine since 1968.
Confirmed recently as a 3.0-liter turbocharged V6, the full powertrain will be electrified – an aspect that has been key to the engine’s development from day one. In parallel to the tests shown today, Aston Martin is developing a new range of hybrid systems that will ensure that the powerplant will become the most powerful in the Aston Martin range when it goes on sale. The final horsepower and torque figures will be determined by the desired characteristics of each model it powers.
Following the Aston Martin Valkyrie—the brand’s first mid-engined hypercar—many key learnings have been directly applied to this project. As a result, the decision to develop the engine with a ‘hot V’ structure was clear from the start, with the configuration allowing for this compact engine to weigh less than 200kg.
Higher engine speeds, in combination with the benefits of electrification, will offer the performance of a mid-engined supercar on an extreme level. The engine will be equipped with a dry sump system to achieve the lowest possible center of gravity. The system will also deliver exceptional lubrication performance during on-limit, high-speed cornering. Despite the overt nature of this powertrain, the engine is designed to meet all future emission requirements for Euro 7.
Joerg Ross, Powertrain Chief Engineer said: “This project has been a great challenge from the start. Putting a team together to deliver what is going to be the future power of Aston Martin has been an honor. From the very beginning, we have had the freedom to explore and innovate in a way that we have not been able to do so in a very long time. Most importantly, we wanted to create something that is befitting of the TM01 nameplate and create something that would have impressed our predecessor and pioneering engineer, Tadek Marek”.
Aston Martin President and Group CEO, Andy Palmer said about this engine: “Investing in your own powertrains is a tall order, but our team have risen to the challenge. Moving forward, this power unit will be integral to a lot of what we do and the first signs of what this engine will achieve are incredibly promising.”
We can’t wait to see 007 in action with these V6 Astons.
