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With just 143 examples registered in the UK, Aston Martin has quietly dropped the Cygnet city car – based on the Toyota iQ. According to UK mag Autocar, Aston Martin will also not be re-entering this space, and will focus on what it does best: making high end performance cars. Originally conceived as a way to meet strict European emissions rules, the Cygnet failed to meet Aston’s initial sales projections of 4000 units annually.
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It would totally be the best car to keep on your yacht, private island, or to tow behind your totally pimped out tour bus.
Or in the trunk of an actual Aston Martin to be deployed Knight Rider style.
“making high end loss leading performance cars”
Fixed it for you.
Seriously though, think about this line:
“Originally conceived as a way to meet strict European emissions rules”
So the niche sports car mfg is forced to contract with Toyota for a design to build a car nobody wants and nobody will buy because of EU thuggery? People of Europe its time to rise up and overthrow the bureaucrats.
Why team up for the IQ the original doesn’t even sell well, if they’re really trying to be compliant they should have done an Aston Martin … Prius!
Optional vinyl flames going down the side would top off the Aston Martin look.
It would make sense to lessen restrictions on automakers selling less than 25k cars a year. It’s simply impossible to not muddy up a brand with these laws.
Toyota may not have wanted to license the Prius, I think they see it as one of their crown jewels. While IQ as you point out was a flop so even if the Aston had taken off you’re not out much in competitive sales, so why not make a buck on sunk costs?
The IQ had some really thoughtful design/packaging touches. Intellectually it makes sense for people who live in dense cities and who don’t travel on the highway or carry many passengers often.
I don’t know why anyone buys a Smart or an iQ now that you can get a Fiat 500 in the US…
@Sigivald: I, for one, happen to prefer the exterior and interior styling of the Smart Fortwo, along with the seating position and ergonomics. For those of modest means, Smart Fortwo leases start at $99/mo., as against $199/mo. for a Fiat 500 Pop.
>> I don’t know why anyone buys a Smart or an iQ now that you can get a Fiat 500
With city cars, it’s not about 0-60 times and the fastest from a stop light – it’s all about fitting into the tightest spaces. The Smart has a 33 inch advantage over the 500, so the Smart can be inserted into spaces the 500 can only dream about.
They could have used the Ford Fusion Hybrid…With a nicer interior, of course.
Love it, Prius can look very hot in AM’s details with wide fenders, that Fusion nose, sloping back, best handling hybrid?
Why not an Aston FRS? That way all the autoblogs would have something to shove into our faces again for months, while we get whats basically an entry level Aston.
if this car can keep up with big astons it may have a chance if not very few dudes will want a car accelerates 3x the time of what they are driving now.
I wonder if you can fit a V12 in there.
>> wonder if you can fit a V12 in there.
http://www.artus-motor.com/en
This would have been the only Aston Martin I could afford.
To think of that proud, English racing heritage!
IIRC the idea was that they would only sell them to Aston owners, so you’d need to have an Aston already to get one.. Or buy one off a friend of yours who has an Aston..
Then why target 4000/year? It doesn’t make sense.
If you want it be exclusive, then don’t set any sales target.
If you want to hit 4000/year, remove the strings (or maybe jack up the price a bit so that exactly 4000 are sold.)
http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/28/aston-martin-cygnet-available-only-to-aston-owners/?_r=0
I guess they changed their policy?
“I’m surprised this happened!”, said nobody ever.
As an Irishman I find the English to be most perplexing.
For the most part, they are very sensible, i.e., to see through an Aston Martin Toyota.
Yet mention their Royalty and they are in swoons of apoplexy.
dan
This may be connected to AMG’s (read: Daimler’s) recent partial acquisition of Aston Martin.
Here’s something for the TTAC staff to research: Find out what the EU rules are for including a brand in a given fleet, i.e. find out how much ownership that Daimler needs to have for Aston Martin to be included as part of Daimler’s average carbon emissions.
In other words, if Aston Martin is to be included in Daimler’s emissions pool, then cars such as the A-class and Smart fortwo would be used to hit those numbers. If Aston Martin stands on its own, then perhaps it will get smaller cars from Mercedes in order to fulfill its own requirements.
Is this the car that inspired all the current Fords?
LOL! “Ooh, look at the Aston-Martin grille..”
At the risk of incurring derision from the other readers, I kind of like the looks. However, that’s one of those machines that allow you to save dollars by specifying that you be buried in it if you get in a wreck whilst driving it.
I’m guessing that if you bought one now and stored it, in 20 years it will bring top dollar as a collectable due to the rarity, the A-M connection, and the “Edsel factor”.
Exactly! With 143 sold, I bet it would worth more than a regular Aston.
Does this mean that the 143 that are out there will become collectible? Will they now command a premium price on the used market because they are now made out of unobtanium? Are owners even allowed to sell them seperately from the Aston that made up the price of admission? So many questions, so few who care what the answers may be.
If you own it, you can sell it. That’s why it’s called private property. What, do you think Aston sends around people to check?
There might be some strings attached in the purchase of the IQ-with-lots-of-leather-and-wood. For all we know, it could even be some lease-only thing like the GM EV1. But you are probably right.
Or, you could buy one and use it to make pattern parts to sell as a Cygnet conversion kit to IQ owners
Good thinking. It would probably outsell the VW Beetle Rolls-Royce kit.
Maybe they figured out that if they need a compliance car, all they need to do is order up a Fusion plug-in and swap badges.
The Cygnet wasn’t just a bad idea because it was a rebadged Toyota, but because it didn’t suit the clientele well enough. A Fiat 500 or Abarth would have been a better pick. The Fiat has about the same interior space as a Rapide (albeit with a different seating position), has a more fun chassis/engine, and has more chic in its DNA. I went through a more detailed comparison of the interiors on my blog if anyone is interested to see the specs.
Ummm….I like it? And now I don’t know what to do with these feelings.
It was just a bad idea all around. For EU thugs, you build a V-12 with 8 cylinders deactivated, and provide new owners with a secret code that allows the owners to switch back and forth. That could be done with a V8/V4 option, but heck, just rub it in the Brussels boys’ faces with a V12.