Tuesday 19th October 2010

Video: Aston Big Guns Defend Cygnet

Bez and Reichman on why new city car is a proper Aston

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You have to admire Aston Martin for its chutzpah in building the Cygnet city car even if - like us - you find it hard to square a Toyota-based city car with Aston's brand image.

Aston even goes so far as to call the Cygnet a model in its own right - rebuffing assertions that the car is essentially a re-trimmed, re-nosed Toyota iQ (we say 'hmmm' to that...).

If you're still unconvinced (like us) that the Cygnet is a pukka Aston, then allow the case for the defence to be heard. And in the witness box? None other than Aston's biggest guns, CEO Dr Ulrich Bez, and design boss Marek Reichman.

You can listen to their arguments in full on the video, but the essence is this: "Cygnet is a small, luxurious Aston Martin, tailor-fit for the city," says Reichman.

And this is what Dr Bez has to say: "Aston Martin is honest. And we don't make compromises. So whatever we do, we have to do right. If we do performance, we do performance and don't downsize, and if we respect the needs of emissions and space, we're going to do it without compromise in Cygnet."

 

[sc4589]

Christ. I just hope this is all one big (very early) April Fool's joke.

[Pommygranite]

It's a very clever way of reducing astons overall emmissions in addition to making a mockery of the brand.

[jontysafe]

Whatever their albeit reasoned argument is; it IS a re worked iQ. Which I`ve no doubt will be `000s cheaper.

[alolympic]

This is just a PR stunt to try and minimise the branding disaster that this car really represents.
The video reminds me that people apparently use their hands a lot when they are lying.....

[pnpf]

This is just embarrassing, Reichman says "..it has the exterior form language of an Aston Martin" and "the customer will have the same experience purchasing the Cygnet as a Rapide or DB9".

What's next an Aston mini-van so that people can car pool out of respect for the environment?

[hornetrider]

Chutzpah? Someone been on the thesaurus juice?!

[chickensoup]

Great bit of turd polishing. Shame really as I thought aston had moved on from taking cars like the ageing XJS and fettling them with an aston badge and calling it a luxury car.

I feel much easier that part of our motoring heritage is safe when a german tells me that putting an Aston badge on a Toyota is good for the brand

[Lightningman]

Pommygranite said:

It's a very clever way of reducing astons overall emmissions in addition to making a mockery of the brand.

+1

While I understand they are required to reduce their C02 average, a £30k+ Toyota IQ with a bodykit and some fancy leather seems an odd way to approach it.

[Riggers]

hornetrider said:

Chutzpah? Someone been on the thesaurus juice?!

Just reckon it's a good word that's a bit under-used...

[Ved]

If adding a low emission car to their brand means they can continue to make V8 and V12 fire breathers, what is the problem? It's not like they'll actually have to sell any to stay within the EU boundaries anyway.

[a3_blues]

Bez and Reichman scare me.
"the customer will have the same experience purchasing the Cygnet as a Rapide or DB9"... until they turn the key and fire it up.
Where is the cool brand?
Where is the emotion?
Is Aston Martin safe?

[pSyCoSiS]

What a pointless thing to do...

Aston Martin are about all-out sports cars, with proper pedigree.

You can understand manufacturers like BMW / Mercedes, etc, making a huge range of totally different cars, but Aston doesn't go with making City Cars! It doesn't need to.

Oh well, you'll now have alot of people saying they own an Aston Martin. Too bad it will be disappointing when you see it in the car park!

All IMO, of course!

[Streetrod]

Much as you may hate the concept if you were in the management team at Aston Martin you would have done the same.

The alternative would be V6 and four cylinder and hybrid powered Astons in the future. Aston did not have a choice. They have to get there fleet wide emissions down to the EU levels or stop making cars. The current range will never be able to make that possible.

Also we on PH are not in the market for this car, it will be the fashionable London type set and the wives of Aston owners who will buy these cars convinced they are buying a real Aston. We can throw as much scorn on them as we like but to ignore the EU situation will lead to the down fall of companies like Aston.

[LewisR]

The Cygnet is no more or less to AML than the Frazer Tickford was back in the '80s. The only difference really is the badge. If this had been launched as a Frazer Cygnet then perhaps there wouldn't have been so much of an outcry!

[MrGeoff]

Hmmm a reliable Aston for once? Certainly not right.

[chickensoup]

The tickford was not sold as an Aston Martin though was it. If I get a AMV8 bodykit on an old Capri, that is not an Aston Martin, neither was a Tickford Capri

[ceriw]

pnpf said:

This is just embarrassing, Reichman says "..it has the exterior form language of an Aston Martin" and "the customer will have the same experience purchasing the Cygnet as a Rapide or DB9".

really don't fancy wasting time listening to the sales rhetoric BUT did the fool really say that?
no conscience sales folk, some marketing 'gurus' should be put to sleep.

[Insight]

Maybe this would be OK if they had actually built the entire thing themselves from scratch, but just re-bodying something already out there is just an appalling shortcut. And I would imagine, that most people who own Astons know that shortcuts never really work out, the only way to get something quicker is to work harder.

Edited by Insight on Tuesday 19th October 11:30

[Oddball RS]

Quit the marketing crap its a bleeding Toyota, end of.

[wildatheart]

pSyCoSiS said:

What a pointless thing to do...

You can understand manufacturers like BMW / Mercedes, etc, making a huge range of totally different cars, but Aston doesn't go with making City Cars! It doesn't need to.

They DO need to, in order to comply with new regulations set out by the EU, where companies are expected to have carbon dioxide emissions averaging just 130g/km. It's just one example of why big corporations love the global warming scam so much - for a company like VW, it is not a problem to produce low average emissions whilst selling Veyrons, but a company like AM is forced to damage its brand by building little Frankensteins like the Cygnet. And then there are carbon taxes on top; the smaller your business, the more they hurt. I don't know how companies like Noble and Morgan are supposed to cope, but if you wonder why companies like VW, Mercedes, BMW, Honda, Volvo etc all loved being official sponsors of the Copenhagen summit, there's why.

And yes it really is a scam: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/...