Aston Martin Cygnet

[Silver]

Aston Martin has finally confirmed it will put the controversial Cygnet city car into production. The car, based on the Toyota iQ, will hit Aston Martin dealerships some time in 2011.

However, it seems that interested buyers may have to be existing Aston Martin customers to qualify - at least to start with. In a press release confirming the car's production, the company said:

"Our customers need a small car for urban and city use, and they want the right tools for the right job, to downsize creatively without compromising intelligence, artistry and personality."

It's thought, however, that Aston will not limit production, and will release the Cygnet for general sale at some stage. An expensive luxury city car it will be too, with an estimated price of between £30- and £40,000.

It will have no more power than the existing iQ, but will get a major interior and exterior overhaul. The Aston Martin grille, grafted onto the front of the Japanese city car, is the source of some controversy among Aston Martin purists.

Inside, stitched leather is wrapped around every possible surface, though the general architecture remains unchanged. The British carmaker believes that buyers will be able to overlook the Cygnet's humble beginnings because of this complete bespoke overhaul.

"With an almost unlimited palette of materials, colours and textures, each hand-finished Cygnet will be truly unique, a personalised space within the city," says the company, with Aston design boss Marek Reichman adding that "luxury is not constrained by scale."

http://uk.cars.yahoo.com/12102010/36/aston-martin-city-car-confirmed-0.html

[MasterDon]

SACRILEGE!!!

[heavyD]

I'm just wondering who's gonna dish out 40k for something that looks like THAT! God, what were they thinking?

[Silver]

I'm just wondering who's gonna dish out 40k for something that looks like THAT! God, what were they thinking?

Oh, I'm sure there are people who would buy it!

[MasterDon]

I'm just wondering who's gonna dish out 40k for something that looks like THAT! God, what were they thinking?

It'll probably sell by bucketloads.Thats what bums me out machan.we live in a world full of idiots,where Hannah Montana and Justin Bieber are regarded as musicians...I'm guessing This'll be a hit with girls with rich dads and wealthy homos.

[madmax]

SACRILEGE!!!

Rebadged Toyota IQ

[heavyD]

It'll probably sell by bucketloads.Thats what bums me out machan.we live in a world full of idiots,where Hannah Montana and Justin Bieber are regarded as musicians...I'm guessing This'll be a hit with girls with rich dads and wealthy homos.

Tell me about it man... these people don't want cars, they want fashion accessories!!! Sad. It's just sad.

[Silver]

I'm guessing This'll be a hit with girls with rich dads and wealthy homos.

Tell me about it man... these people don't want cars, they want fashion accessories!!!

Pretty sure thats a big share of the market that Aston Martin was actually aiming for with this product.

Sad. It's just sad.

But why? They're simply trying to get into a niche market and try to make a bit of money. With more and more manufactures getting into their prestigous class, they're simply loosing too much martket share/profit. Who knows, maybe they might go the way most great British auto manufactures took, if they simply try to retain their image and stick to their class, rather than venturing out to other profitable markets.

This being based of the iQ, I doubt they've spent much on R&D. So at those prices (if its a huge hit) its win win for them.

Think of Merceces: in the 50s and 60s who would've thought that they would be making the likes of A and B Class?

[jdnet]

Disgusting. Another good brand sells out.

[heavyD]

Pretty sure thats a big share of the market that Aston Martin was actually aiming for with this product.

But why? They're simply trying to get into a niche market and try to make a bit of money. With more and more manufactures getting into their prestigous class, they're simply loosing too much martket share/profit. Who knows, maybe they might go the way most great British auto manufactures took, if they simply try to retain their image and stick to their class, rather than venturing out to other profitable markets.

This being based of the iQ, I doubt they've spent much on R&D. So at those prices (if its a huge hit) its win win for them.

Think of Merceces: in the 50s and 60s who would've thought that they would be making the likes of A and B Class?

It's not their goals that bothers me, it's the means. From a brand that makes some of the most beautiful cars on earth to producing something that looks like a squashed Vantage! I mean, it's not even a poor man's Aston, it's looks like a toy! That's what the Japanese do! Why not a more focused and smaller car like a one series BMW?

Edited October 13, 2010 by Big_D

[DevakaC]

Competition for the Smart car?

[Buddhika M H]

Think Jezza mentioned it on TopGear about this car and stated the reason. Its because of the emission regulations i think, to have a better emission when taken Aston Martin as a make.

So in a way this could be savior of AM V12s.

But anyway they could have done it in a different way

[Watchman]

Think Jezza mentioned it on TopGear about this car and stated the reason. Its because of the emission regulations i think, to have a better emission when taken Aston Martin as a make.

So in a way this could be savior of AM V12s.

But anyway they could have done it in a different way

Yep, it was something to do with bringing the average emission level down across the company's entire product range. IIRC, Aston Martin is a stand alone company, so they need to have smaller engined cars. But makes like Ferrari and Lamborghini fall under the umbrella of bigger corporations of Fiat and VW, so they dont necessarily have to worry about stuff like that as fiat and VW have their low emissions vehicles.

Crazy legislation if you ask me.

[MkX]

It'll probably sell by bucketloads.Thats what bums me out machan.we live in a world full of idiots,where Hannah Montana and Justin Bieber are regarded as musicians...

Some songs that I call real music

Edited October 14, 2010 by MkX

[Kavvz]

Yep, it was something to do with bringing the average emission level down across the company's entire product range. IIRC, Aston Martin is a stand alone company, so they need to have smaller engined cars. But makes like Ferrari and Lamborghini fall under the umbrella of bigger corporations of Fiat and VW, so they dont necessarily have to worry about stuff like that as fiat and VW have their low emissions vehicles.

Crazy legislation if you ask me.

Oh what a waste. If that was the case why couldn't they grab a 1.8cc engine off Toyota and come up with something like a Lotus Exige? Or for crap's sake wrap a Exige in suede and carbon fibre if you want to get lazy....seriously!

Edited October 15, 2010 by Kavvz

[Kavvz]

It'll probably sell by bucketloads.Thats what bums me out machan.we live in a world full of idiots,where Hannah Montana and Justin Bieber are regarded as musicians...

Bieber has a new rap song out. Tops everything he's done so far...its even worse that the one Will Smith's kid released- if that was possible...