Cygnet - The £20K Aston martin

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homeforsummer
it's unlikely to do any damage to the brand mainly because it's only being sold to Aston owners,
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According to Autocar's site, it will be sold to the general public too. I could very much see the appeal of it if it was exclusive to Aston owners, but if it is made available to the general public, then it is essentially the £20k equivalent of a Ferrari baseball cap/keyring.

I also personally feel that Aston Martin should at least make one or two mechanical alterations to the car, even if it that meant doing something as simple as tuning the exhaust to make it sound a little more special.

I am a big fan of the idea of luxury superminis, but I feel if a company as exclusive as Aston decide to venture into this area of the market, they need to do something more ground-breaking than simply re-skinning a current supermini. If the badge is the only USP, then I think it will be to the detriment of the brand as a whole.
 
I'd be surprised if Aston sold it to the great unwashed. I thought the whole idea behind it was that it'd be AM owner-exclusive.

Still, although I did joke about it earlier, the Cygnet is a bit more than just a glorified bit of merchandise. It serves a purpose for one thing, and given the quality of a regular iQ you can bet that a hand finished Aston version will be a quality piece of kit.

It's also worth bearing in mind that even if Aston do sell it to the public, it'd take a special kind of rich git to buy an iQ for £20k - the sort of rich git who probably tools around in a flash car anyway, even if it's not an Aston. As I already touched upon, a £20k iQ isn't even the cheapest way into Aston ownership - a second hand DB7 or V8 are, so I don't think we'll start seeing Cygnets everywhere.

At the end of the day it'll put a few more pennies in Aston's pockets (and save them from the long arm of emissions legislation) and allow them to continue building stuff like the current range, or mad things like the One-77. And that's A Good Thing.
 
LIL_KACHING
It is an abomination. How in the world Aston Martin got this idea ? I normally don't associate Aston Martin with compact city car. What if Lamborghini or Porsche did a car like this ?
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Lambo, I don't know, but Porsche'd do it right. Air-cooled and Rear-engined. ;3
 
I find this weird: I love every aspect of the exterior, but I really dislike the interior. The outside just seems like it was done right, but the inside makes my eyes bleed. It should be done in beige and brown, or black and brown, or anything else that doesn't make it look like a bloody RX-8.

Either way, WANT
 
EA11R
It should be done in beige and brown, or black and brown, or anything else that doesn't make it look like a bloody RX-8.
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I suspect, being an "Aston Martin", you can have the interior trimmed any way you like. Most probably to match your proper Aston.
 
Two random thoughts:

- That is, by far, the best modern AM steering wheel ever. Shapely, with a small circle. Far better than the colossal triangle we usually see.

- TRD Aston Martin.
 
I sort of like it; it's a bit different. And I would be slightly interested as a buyer except for one thing.

Has Aston Martin just dressed up a Toyota, or will it actually drive like an Aston Martin should & not a Toyota?
 
homeforsummer
I'd be surprised if Aston sold it to the great unwashed. I thought the whole idea behind it was that it'd be AM owner-exclusive.
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Nope. I believe the plan is that it will (eventually) go on sale to Joe Q. Public. It will be more than £20k though, don't believe what you read in the press. Closer to £25k - base. Ratchet in optional extras (it won't be loaded at all) and one might spend £30k. That's Mini Cooper S - Works Edition territory.

homeforsummer
Still, although I did joke about it earlier, the Cygnet is a bit more than just a glorified bit of merchandise. It serves a purpose for one thing, and given the quality of a regular iQ you can bet that a hand finished Aston version will be a quality piece of kit.
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It's just a Toyota. Rebuilt by hand, with interior/exterior parts made in a batch size an order of magnitude smaller. Mechanicals untouched.

homeforsummer
At the end of the day it'll put a few more pennies in Aston's pockets (and save them from the long arm of emissions legislation)
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*cough* Um, neither statement may be true there. AML have a exemption from maximum emissions figures across their range.

Interesting, no?

McLaren
Has Aston Martin just dressed up a Toyota, or will it actually drive like an Aston Martin should & not a Toyota?
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The former. In fact, it will be heavier, slower and less fuel efficient. AML will fit performance tyres on fatter rims, thus increasing drag. It will probably be 'marginally' more fun that the iQ to drive. Which is not much fun at all.

Still, you've got the Frankenfurter interior to look at. Someone asked if that will be 'whatever you want'. No, it will be limited. Exterior colours for AML customer cars were slated to be whatever the colour of their car was, but this is open to debate at the moment due to logistics.
 
Venari
Nope. I believe the plan is that it will (eventually) go on sale to Joe Q. Public. It will be more than £20k though, don't believe what you read in the press. Closer to £25k - base. Ratchet in optional extras (it won't be loaded at all) and one might spend £30k. That's Mini Cooper S - Works Edition territory.

It's just a Toyota. Rebuilt by hand, with interior/exterior parts made in a batch size an order of magnitude smaller. Mechanicals untouched.

*cough* Um, neither statement may be true there. AML have a exemption from maximum emissions figures across their range.

Interesting, no?

The former. In fact, it will be heavier, slower and less fuel efficient. AML will fit performance tyres on fatter rims, thus increasing drag. It will probably be 'marginally' more fun that the iQ to drive. Which is not much fun at all.

Still, you've got the Frankenfurter interior to look at. Someone asked if that will be 'whatever you want'. No, it will be limited. Exterior colours for AML customer cars were slated to be whatever the colour of their car was, but this is open to debate at the moment due to logistics.
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Hmm, thanks for that 👍 Was wondering when you'd appear!

So... it might not actually be of financial benefit and it won't affect the marque's average emissions... so my next question is:

Why? (Or is that a secret? :sly:)

EDIT: Still, I'd hazard that my comment about it not really devaluing the brand still stands. If it's going to cost upwards of £25k then there are so many cheaper ways to buy an "Aston" than that. It'd be like saying a Ferrari-badged Fiat 500 devalues the Ferrari brand at £16k or whatever when you can buy a Mondial for ten grand... Of course, it's not a proper Aston/Ferrari, but it's hardly going to be ubiquitous at that price...
 
Venari
An excellent question. Please, discuss at leisure.
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Ah, I see :P

EDIT: Realistically though, the reasons I mentioned before. Less of a risk in town, stops people straying from the marque if they feel obliged to buy a smaller car for city use... and that's all I can come up with.
 
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BUDGET CUTS IN AMR AND MI6 RESULT IN:

I give you, the Aston Martin Cygnet. Of course, it's old news, I know, but it has been shown in Geneva with some quite amusing and "wanna-be" pictures that I thought you might look at to laugh for a while.

What we have here is a Toyota IQ with an Aston fascia and custom Aston interior. And...erm...well, maybe a faulty accelerator. There's a group of pictures about the typical "Aston Martin Customer" with the Toyo-Martin in the background, just to show how out of place this car is, however this two are my favourites.

Aston-Martin-Cygnet-2.jpg


Just try to picture Q and Agent 007 with this little shoe-box. I bet that 007 would make use of his license to kill with Q...

Aston-Martin-Cygnet-4.JPG


Oh, look! The DBR9 no longer works for Le Mans, let's take this!!!
 
Oh come on, am I the only one who LIKES it? Toyota junk aside I think it looks great inside and out and I like it. :D
 
Aston have finally killed off the Cygnet.
Autocar
The Aston Martin Cygnet has been dropped from the company's product line.

An Aston Martin spokesman told Autocar the company has no current plans to re-enter the supermini or city car segments, instead saying Aston Martin would focus on its core product range of sports cars.

Believed by many to be the justification for Aston Martin to continue developing V8 and V12-powered sports cars, the low CO2 emissions of the Cygnet - 120g/km - allowed Aston to lower its average CO2 emissions across its product range.

The £30,995, 920kg city car was originally introduced in 2011, and came with a four-cylinder 1.3-litre petrol engine, providing 97bhp and 92lb ft of torque. Our original first drive praised the*car for its luxurious interior, and for its appeal to both the rich and the open minded.

It is believed that just 143 examples are still present on UK roads.*

Internet rumours suggest that a similar project, possibly based around Aston Martin's technical partnership with AMG, could yield a new city car in the future.
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