In the world of hyper-exclusive automotive creations, manufacturers sometimes promise the moon to their most important customers and end up failing miserably. That’s quite literally what happened in the case of American businessman Kris Singh and his one-off Aston Martin Valkyrie hypercar that was supposed to feature an out-of-the-world paint job. It was back in 2018 when the announcement was made that Aston Martin would build a one-of-a-kind Valkyrie for the renowned Florida-based car collector finished in a special Karosserie Lunar Red paint with actual moon dust. Back then, the millionaire even revealed on social media that he had acquired a moon rock for the project. It was such an outlandish undertaking that Singh’s Valkyrie grabbed headlines worldwide, making it one of the most anticipated one-off builds. However, Singh recently revealed that the project to create his bespoke moon-dust-covered Valkyrie is dead.
The American businessman took to Instagram to vent his frustration with Aston Martin’s failure to deliver Singh his dream hypercar. Ranting on the social media platform, Kris Singh wrote: “During the 8 years I waited for my Valkyrie, Aston Martin lost their partnership with Red Bull, the value of the company tanked, Adrian Newey left the project, the company changed ownership, and the current sad shell of a once great brand decided they are not capable of handling the extremely valuable moon rock.”
The Valkyrie is undeniably Aston Martin’s most ambitious project, almost bankrupting the automaker. The idea was to make the world’s most technically complex limited production hybrid sports car collaboratively built by Aston Martin, Red Bull Racing Advanced Technologies, and several other companies. In an interview, Red Bull F1 team principal Christian Horner revealed that the Valkyrie project was spawned only to keep star Red Bull designer Adrian Newey from going to Ferrari. “Adrian came very close to leaving,” Horner said in the interview with Dax Shepard. “He was within about half an hour of signing.”
While Aston Martin successfully brought the Valkyrie to production and announced a Le Mans racer based on the hypercar that will start competing next year, the partnership with Red Bull Racing ended in 2020. Even the highly successful F1 racing team failed to stop Adrian Newey from leaving. But, more importantly, Singh’s highly-publicized Valkyrie finished in the first-of-its-kind moondust paint never happened.
Aston Martin’s loss is Pagani’s gain
In the same Instagram post in which Singh ridiculed Aston Martin on its failure, the American entrepreneur announced that Pagani would be the first automaker in the world to build a car with moondust paint. Sing wrote: “Ladies and Gentlemen, it brings me great pleasure to announce that the first automotive brand to use actual moon rock in a complex paint formula will be the brand closest to my heart: @paganiautomobili.”
He also said that Pennsylvania-based company Karosserie will create “an epic new color never seen before” with moondust for the project. While the millionaire did not mention the actual car that will feature the special paint other than saying that it will be ready “sometime in the next 12 cycles of the moon,” we expect it to be a one-off version of the Pagani Utopia. Singh added: “Pagani is still led by Horacio Pagani and being the son of a baker in Argentina who went on to conqueror the automotive world, he is certainly not afraid to mix it up with the moon. This project is very special to me. I look forward to sharing it with all of you.”
Kris Singh – a passionate collector of bespoke hypercars
Kris Singh is an Indian-American businessman and a renowned car collector based out of Miami, Florida, who claims to be a managing partner of a private investment company. The millionaire gained popularity in the world of automobiles when he became one of the four people across the globe who bought a Lamborghini Veneno. Priced at $4 million, the limited-production high-performance sports car was developed to celebrate Lamborghini’s 50th anniversary. While Singh still owns the ultra-rare Lamborghini, he has added many more bespoke hypercars to his collection over the last decade. The millionaire owns the world’s only Koenigsegg Agera XS, which is said to be the first of its kind certified for use on American roads. Additionally, his collection includes a Pagani Zonda UFO, a Huayra BC, and a Huayra La Monza Lisa edition. While he also regularly uses a heavily modified Hummer H1, the collector also owns a Bugatti Chiron Pur Sport.
