Aston Martin unveils Cygnet commuter concept
June 30, 2009 by George Skentzos
Aston Martin has taken the unlikely step of applying its flawless iconic styling to the Toyota iQ to create a new luxury commuter concept dubbed the Cygnet.
This concept is said to represent a creative, environmentally conscious solution, being small, yet with presence – and highly fuel efficient, now combined with the prestige of Aston Martin’s luxury brand ownership.
Since it is not April Fools we have to take this seriously, despite representing an almost impossible collaboration between the world leader in exclusive niche engineering and the world leader in volume – you can guess which is which.
Aston Martin Chief Executive, Dr Ulrich Bez said: “Now is the right time for Aston Martin to take this first bold step to embark on this special project – made possible with the support of an organisation of Toyota’s stature and capability and the intelligent design and perfect city car package of the iQ.”
“Much work is still required, but I am confident that this project could become reality in the not too distant future. This concept – akin to an exclusive tender to a luxury yacht – will allow us to apply Aston Martin design language, craftsmanship and brand values to a completely new segment of the market.”
Whether or not this finds its way into showrooms is yet to be seen, although the thought of this same idea being applied to some of the more potent models in the Toyota line-up – namely the Lexus IS F – is certainly intriguing.
Tags: Aston Martin Cygnet
Interesting, but I’m not sold. It looks OK, a bit awkward though. Is it reminding anybody else of the Citroen DS3?
I think the biggest problem with this car is that it seriously endangers the cool factor of Aston Martin and that’s something that they need; the thing that makes people buy them instead of Ferraris – because they’re cool an beautiful. This car is neither of those things. I think it looks good, but it isn’t beautiful. I think that it should only be offered to owners of Aston Martin sports and super cars. If it were to go on general sale, as long as it’s cheaper than $60,000, it will sell in massive numbers that will make Aston Martins, well, common.
Why not call it a Lagonda? There’s a brand that everybody seems to hate already. Surely it would have looked better with a bodykit derived from that V12 SUV thing we saw a couple of months ago? Besides, what better to compliment a V12 SUV than a 3 cylinder supermini?
I think it’s a mistake. I think that we all always knew that brands like Aston Martin would eventually make superminis and to me that’s fine, but did it really have to be based on the IQ? Why not the Mini? At least then it would have been proper fun. They should have made one from the bottom up themselves, a RWD supercar-supermini. That would have had dignity and it wouldn’t have been a re-bodied Toyota.
Could this be the end of Aston Martin’s cast iron image? I think there’s a chance.
I know they’re not reading this but please Aston Martin, don’t do this. And if you have to, please call it a Lagonda.
Just to add, if it was to be mechanically unchanged, this would be an Aston Martin that would take 14.7 seconds to reach 100. Not to mention the added weight from the added luxury over the IQ so we could be looking at 15-15.5 seconds to get to 100.
To me, that’s slow for a Toyota so being an Aston Martin makes things subtly, no, make that much much much worse.
Hahahahaha! April Fools? Look at the ‘grills’ on the bonnet. The headlights look identical to the iQ, and this is an Aston Martin for crying out loud.
Oh the legacy of performance cars…to this.
you’ll know its for real if 007 steps out of one in the next movie.
Ha ha ha nice one !!!!
The best thing is they don’t use Kia Soul as base car !!!!
What a load of rubbish…. and they say that porsche has lost the plot!
Thank emission and fuel economy standards for this development.
The inmates are running the asylum.
The price of every Aston just devalued by 50%. Are you sure this isn’t something put out by, say, the sneak department at Ferrari?
I’ve seen those kits where you can turn an MX-5 into something that looks like an Aston Martin and they are horrible. But they aren’t nearly as silly as this.
Are you really sure it isn’t April 1st?
Hahaha….has to be a hoax. LOL one for the trip into the office and a proper Aston for the weekend. I poke fun but this may be the only way that I will ever be able to afford an Aston Martin.
What the hell’s going on!??
I swear some of you don’t read the articles before posting…!
No sorry but you got it around the wrong way, this is a bunch of Toyota designers getting worried about their job security so they are showing off their talent for using everyone else’s designs :-) (now watch the flames come in LOL)
LOL
So you cant get the rest of the fleet to meet emission levels Aston ? I can understand that,but to resort to a tarted up IQ to save you from penalties! They must be high is all I can say.
Aston are about to have its first ever uber-uncool car :(
Errrrr, if i was managment or CEO of A/M i would be pretty pissed-off at my employees doing something like this while i was paying them.
What the point of it?
Back to work [real] guys!
Cheers
F-0
Read the bloody article!!
Yes we have Adam…whats your point?
If you had, you would know why Aston Martin is developing the Cygnet…
Why the silly questions!?
It’s an experiment; something that gets the creative juices flowing, not an actual investment in their next model.
It’s AM having a bit of a play around. Why do people get so grouchy about this sort of thing?
Ummmmmmmm Adam I still dont think they understand the reason behind the this car.
Perhaps more information for them ? Quote from TMR
“Why? Aston Martin neglects to mention the precise reasoning, but the decision to go ahead with the pint-sized two-door project was ostensibly made to prepare the British marque for incoming European Union legislation that will require automakers to reduce the overall emissions of their offerings.
Introducing a fuel-sipping minicar to a range dominated by high-powered V8s and V12s is a quick and easy way of improving the company’s fleet emissions, and will mean Aston Martin won’t need to invest significant amounts of money creating its own eco-friendly car before 2012, when the new regulations kick in.
Ferrari and Lamborghini are able to get around the impending law changes thanks to their respective parent companies being able to absorb the high emissions and low fuel economy numbers of their supercars, but being a largely independent company Aston Martin has no such luxury.
The Toyota iQ upon which the Aston minicar will be based wheezes out around 99 grams of CO2 per kilometre – not enough to bring Aston Martin’s fleet average under the projected 130g/km target, but certainly enough to reduce any penalties for not doing so.”" END QUOTE
Bavarian Missile™,
There you go ;-)
I saw this on autocar website yesterday and had to check the date to make sure it wasn’t 1st April. THis is a car they have to build to meet the emission regulation, but i’d really prefer if they call it a Lagonda. Reserve AM name for fast cars, and use Lagonda for luxury cars.
Bavarian Missile™
Well there goes my favourite resting place on this Forum :-(
As for the car, Cafe laws and their European counterparts have a lot to answer for :-<
If they are doing this to reduce its overall carbon foot print, they will be forced to sell them to the public.
I can see it now
“Just got myself a BRAND NEW Aston Martin”
“Wow your a legend, u must be real rich to buy and run it”
lol
Talk about getting a free ride!
Where can i order one?
Cheers
F-0
So what is this car going to be called could it be….
the DB-4: as its less than half the size of a DB-9 or;
the mou: which is french for sluggish; given that rapide is french for fast
It looks a bit like the small Chevy “micro car” [called Skidz] from the latest Transformers Movie.
There’s a thought.. I wonder if we will see the Cygnet or any other Euro sports cars in the next movie?
Haha, Wheelnut™, I like the name Mou. :P
Aston Martin has lost the plot more then Porsche has!!!!!