Aston Martin files trademark for Norse term Valhalla as name for new car

At Aston Martin, there is the Valkyrie. In the near future, there might also be a Valhalla. Another name that starts with letter “V,” the Valhalla has just been reserved as a name that Aston Martin for a possible new car, after the British carmaker filed a trademark application for the name.

Aston Martin filed the trademark application with the World Intellectual Property organization. According to the application, the named “Valhalla” will be used on “passenger cars and racing cars and parts and fittings therefor,” among other types of vehicles. It was Autoguide that first discovered the trademark application, which was filed by Aston Martin on Oct. 12, 2018.

The use of names derived from Norse mythology is nothing new to Aston Martin. The AM-RB 001 hypercar – a joint project of Aston Martin and Red Bull Advanced Technologies – was a codename used before the carmaker eventually baptized the new hypercar as the Aston Martin Valkyrie. In Norse mythology, Odin -- the god of war and death and chief of Aesir gods – keeps a group of female helping spirits called Valkyries.

A Valkyrie is given the power to decide who may die and who may live in a battle. When Valkyries ride to a battlefield, they would select half of those who died to be taken to Odin’s place of the afterlife, the Valhalla. Essentially, the Valkyrie is Aston Martin’s declaration of the Valkyrie chosen by the Gods.

Here comes the trademark application for the Valhalla, which, as mentioned, is Odin’s place in the afterlife where deserving slain warriors are brought. Since the Valkyrie and Valhalla of Norse mythology have an uncanny direct connection, the Valkyrie and Valhalla of Aston Martin would also be directly related.

Valhalla might be the new name for the Project 003, which will feature a turbocharged V6 engine with performance-tuned hybrid assistance. Just like the Valkyrie, Red Bull Racing has a hand in the Project 003. On the other hand, Valhalla might the official moniker of a new car – with a development codename of AM9 -- that is slated to compete against the Ferrari 488.

Aston Martin chief executive Andy Palmer has told Motor1 that the Project 003 and the AM9 are being designed side by side, which means that they might resemble each other. He remarked that the Project 003 will serve as the connector dot between the Valkyrie and the AM9.

Valhalla essentially continues the lineage of Aston Martin’s V cars, starting from the Vantage in 1951. Names starting with the letter V are typically reserved for highly desirable cars which engineering and performance capacities have been taken to whole new levels. There was the Vantage, the Virage, the Vanquish, the Vulcan and now the Valkyrie. There is also the Varekai, which will be used to name Aston Martin’s upcoming crossover that was previewed by the DBX