For the most part badge engineering is pretty lame and rarely is it entirely successful. Well Aston Martin is moving forward with its rebadged Toyota iQ, the Cygnet. Were all used to Aston Martin's beautiful super cars with pricing that many of us could only hope to achieve one day, well the Cygnet is priced many thousands less than anything in Aston martin's current lineup, something that is sure to piss off many Aston Martin owners.
When Aston Martin unveiled the Cygnet concept car many of us thought it was a joke, but sadly it's not and the automaker plans on introducing the rebadged Toyota sometime in 2010.
Ulrich Bez, chief executive of Aston Martin descibed the Cygnet as "This concept is akin to an exclusive tender for a luxury yacht." Pricing is expected to be around £20,000 (about $35,000). But just in case some of you thought it would be cool to own it, you better also have another Aston Martin your garage. The Cygnet is only available to current Aston Martin owners. It's also not expected to come to the U.S.
Full Story: New York Times
Related Stories:
Aston Martin Releases the First Official Photos of the Cygnet
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Comments (13)
Looks like Aston Martin's reputation is about to go to crap.
Posted by Totenglocke | December 29, 2009 1:52 PM
Posted on December 29, 2009 13:52
The only way this will avoid FAIL status is if they stuffed a 2ZZ-GE in there. Then you'd have a poor man's Elise. But I doubt that's going to happen.
Posted by Ravicai | December 29, 2009 3:58 PM
Posted on December 29, 2009 15:58
I can see what they are doing. It is not being sold to the public so it won't make the nameplate common place but will keep it very exclusive. It is probably can crafted and painted to match your other Aston Martin in the garage
(if that matters to you). Although Shaq sure won't be getting one.
Owners also can say they are Eco-conscience. It will Aston Martin raise the average mpg for the whole fleet possibly helping them to reach some government certification or even help avoid some luxury tariffs.
Posted by tomt | December 29, 2009 5:22 PM
Posted on December 29, 2009 17:22
@tomt
"It will Aston Martin raise the average mpg for the whole fleet possibly helping them to reach some government certification or even help avoid some luxury tariffs."
Yes, but at the cost of the reputation of the brand. I used to love Aston's, but after finding out that they really are going to sell this atrocity, I'll never look at Aston's the same way again.
Posted by Totenglocke | December 29, 2009 9:29 PM
Posted on December 29, 2009 21:29
I think you all shoul think outside of the box and look at this tincan from a different perspective ... Only now I see what they are aiming at with this one ...DB9 sure is a nice looking hi performance luxury GT car that is (allegedly) fun to drive and sure is something to be wanna seen in ..But... lets say you go downtown to a board meeting , fiighting with the traffic congestion.. or you might wanna make some stops on the way there to buy a ne BOSS tie and you need to park your car in narrow halled garage with steep slopes at the drive in.... Would you wanna do that in your DBS ? yeah ..didnt think so ...you can take a cab ..or a smart ..or a small IQ toyota ...until now ....
Here comes the Cygnet ...you can still drive an Aston , but this time its small, eco friendly and very agile ...and i am sure the wont skimp on the interior luxury and nice materials ...and basicly thats what you need from a city aston ...astons were never about pure performance anyway .. So in my eyes ...this Cygnet might be a success ...
Posted by s_howl | December 29, 2009 11:22 PM
Posted on December 29, 2009 23:22
@s_howl
"astons were never about pure performance anyway"
Aston's are about elegance, something this POS lacks in the extreme. Saying it looks like it's made out of used pop-cans is being very complimentary. I swear, if this actually does end up in production (and not axed long before it gets there), then I'm going to be sickened every time I hear the name "Aston Martin" for the rest of my life.
Posted by Totenglocke | December 30, 2009 12:36 AM
Posted on December 30, 2009 00:36
@ Totenglocke
I totally agree with you, the stigma will ruin their niche.
Posted by tomt | December 30, 2009 2:37 PM
Posted on December 30, 2009 14:37
Wonder how many people will laugh at you if you said to them you drive an Aston Martin and then drive up in one of these.......
Posted by SteelCity1981 | December 31, 2009 2:52 PM
Posted on December 31, 2009 14:52
@ SteelCity1981: haha, reminds me of the Toyota Echo I saw with Audi badges.
Posted by Ravicai | December 31, 2009 4:16 PM
Posted on December 31, 2009 16:16
lol a new smart
Posted by zeid | January 2, 2010 6:53 AM
Posted on January 2, 2010 06:53
You guys are all wrong. This isn't going to "cheapen" Aston's image. Instead it will make them appear young, hip, and trendy instead of stodgy. I would be none of you own an Aston, the actual owners are probably queing up already for the Cygnet.
Posted by mtbscott | January 5, 2010 6:12 AM
Posted on January 5, 2010 06:12
A recent episode of Top Gear talked about about the Cygnet.... Top Gear claimed the European Union is requiring all the vehicles of each car manufacturer must reach a certain combined average of CO2 emissions. So in order for Aston Martin to reach this lower average, they decided to build this rediculous Cygnet. Lots of other high emission car makers are owned by another company... For example Bugatti is owned by Volkswagen so they can use all of Volkswagen's cars to meet the lower emission average. Since Aston Martin is independently owned they have no choice but to add a new car with ultra low emissions to offset all their gas thirsty models.
Posted by Mike | November 6, 2010 3:07 PM
Posted on November 6, 2010 15:07
A recent episode of Top Gear talked about about the Cygnet.... Top Gear claimed the European Union is requiring all the vehicles of each car manufacturer must reach a certain combined average of CO2 emissions. So in order for Aston Martin to reach this lower average, they decided to build this rediculous Cygnet. Lots of other high emission car makers are owned by another company... For example Bugatti is owned by Volkswagen so they can use all of Volkswagen's cars to meet the lower emission average. Since Aston Martin is independently owned they have no choice but to add a new car with ultra low emissions to offset all their gas thirsty models.
Posted by Mike | November 6, 2010 3:08 PM
Posted on November 6, 2010 15:08