Good article. Don't agree with all of it, but the gist is something I've been harping on about for a little while now.

The Cygnet's a disaster. I'd be surprised if they sell (to genuine customers rather than forcing them on dealers) over 2k units a year in any one of the years it's in production. It's stupid, and the (public) rationale behind it's production is so flawed it calls into question the other decisions the company is making. None of the numbers stack up.

Producing an Aston underneath the V8V is not the way to go. Aston is a premium brand. It should be looking the other way. Can we see Ferrari ever releasing a 45k model? Not a prayer. They go the other way.

That the Vanquish has yet to be replaced is as telling as them wasting man hours tarting up a Toyota. Add into the mix the odd marketing with the DB9/Virage/DBS and the only slightly bright light is the Rapide. Which is a good car (but then I'm not in the market for a 4 seater).

The One-77 is a total irrelevance. Exceedingly poor packaging, not that great looking. Sounds good, but performance wise what is it proving? If it had a Vanquish badge on it and cost 250-300k, plus some boot space, maybe. As it is? Meh.

I can see a tie up with Mercedes potentially working. Mercedes haven't hit the top with their "supercars". There have been some interesting cars, but none to really set the world on fire. Perhaps letting Aston rip with some of their technologies, but getting the Aston design flair etc into the mix might possibly provide some top line (120k and well upwards) models that could genuinely compete? Might make sense for both in a very tight tie up??

Can't see how else they're going to keep going though. Unless they were to quit focussing on large volumes and more on bespoke product. But then I doubt that would be regarded well enough to garner the serious investment the current owners crave.

I love my V8V. They are very, very good cars and used ones at around 40k are a steal. But they need to up the ante to keep going. It's not all about numbers - look at nigh on all the reviews of 458 versus MP4-12C - but they need to start leading the way rather than being a step adrift.

They'll keep going for a bit as there's not much at their price point that competes for the feel good factor (new for new). But that's wearing off rapidly. Sales figures next year will be very interesting.