The Cygnet.....

[DesmoTip]

Possibly the least popular "Aston" in history - can anyone explain why they aren't available Stateside?

I quite fancy getting one for a cheeky little runaround to offset the AMG and impending DB9 purchase, but all I can find online are references to in coming to the US "in 2011" and then "in 2012".

[williamp]

Is he IQ available in the US? Probably something to do with legislation. If h iq can be sold, the cygnet can be

Oh, why would you want one??

[DesmoTip]

iQ is available over here, but they're sold under the Scion brand rather than Toyota.

I will find it amusing having one for coffee runs, especially as it will be the same colour combo as the DB9. Perhaps my wife can use it for her drive to work, which is in Downtown Houston.

[jakesmith]

I get the appeal, if you need a city car but want one that has a lovely interior, if you don't take yourself too seriously, and if you want to upset all of these other Aston owners who think they're in some exclusive club because they drive a car that costs £35k

[krisdelta]

Wouldn't it be more amusing to get a Scion and put a whacking great AM sticker on the rear window?

[PiloteAM]

The interior's not that great, certainly not 25+ grand great, and the car is ugly.

You could get a V8V for 35 grand.

[jakesmith]

It was never a beginner's Aston though for the cheapest possible entry to the brand, it's for seriously rich people who want a cheeky little runabout. I know a guy with a V8V, a helicopter, and a little 3 wheel red mini van like those bike based things italian's use to take bread from one villiage to the next, guess which one he uses to go down the pub in?

I haven't seen the interior in real life but it certainly looks nice in pics, especially compared to other cars in it's class like Smart or he IQ it's based on

[michael gould]

jakesmith said:

It was never a beginner's Aston though for the cheapest possible entry to the brand, it's for seriously rich people who want a cheeky little runabout. I know a guy with a V8V, a helicopter, and a little 3 wheel red mini van like those bike based things italian's use to take bread from one villiage to the next, guess which one he uses to go down the pub in?

The helicopter ?

[stimshady]

Wasn't it created just to counter UK emission laws, maybe the US don't have the same legal requirements?

edited:

yes, here we go, found this on wiki:

"The Aston Martin Cygnet is a 3-door hatchback marketed by Aston Martin beginning with model year 2011 as a rebadged variant of the Toyota iQ. The Cygnet enables Aston Martin to comply with the European Union–imposed fleet average emissions regulations taking effect in 2012"

[yeti]

The problem with the Cygnet is that it's neither good nor cool. It's a mistake.

Fiat 500 Abarth SS with all the kit is cool and expensive enough to make you feel smug. And it's actually fast!

Plants of fast expensive city cars about

[Neil1300R]

stimshady said:

Wasn't it created just to counter UK emission laws, maybe the US don't have the same legal requirements?

edited:

yes, here we go, found this on wiki:

"The Aston Martin Cygnet is a 3-door hatchback marketed by Aston Martin beginning with model year 2011 as a rebadged variant of the Toyota iQ. The Cygnet enables Aston Martin to comply with the European Union–imposed fleet average emissions regulations taking effect in 2012"

No it wasn't!

Dr Bez said:

I don't need the Cygnet to make my fleet [average] go down," he says. "We have reduced our fleet [emissions] average in the past three years by 27 per cent, we are meeting our European and American requirements for small manufacturers. We have different targets to large manufacturers.

[jakesmith]

yeti said:

The problem with the Cygnet is that it's neither good nor cool. It's a mistake.

Fiat 500 Abarth SS with all the kit is cool and expensive enough to make you feel smug. And it's actually fast!

Plants of fast expensive city cars about

It's not aimed at people who want to go fast, it's aimed at people that want exclusivity, although it looks like that demographic was too small to make it commercially viable. It can't really be argued that it cheapened / lowered the AM brand, has anyone even seen one being driven around? I haven't.

[gibbon]

jakesmith said:

It's not aimed at people who want to go fast, it's aimed at people that want exclusivity, although it looks like that demographic was too small to make it commercially viable. It can't really be argued that it cheapened / lowered the AM brand, has anyone even seen one being driven around? I haven't.

I had one as a courtesy car when my Vantage was in for servicing, had it for around a week. At first i felt fairly conscious driving it and didnt really enjoy it, but to be honest, after a while I quite warmed to it, that is in central london driving though.

[stimshady]

Neil1300R said:

stimshady said:

Wasn't it created just to counter UK emission laws, maybe the US don't have the same legal requirements?

edited:

yes, here we go, found this on wiki:

"The Aston Martin Cygnet is a 3-door hatchback marketed by Aston Martin beginning with model year 2011 as a rebadged variant of the Toyota iQ. The Cygnet enables Aston Martin to comply with the European Union–imposed fleet average emissions regulations taking effect in 2012"

No it wasn't!

Dr Bez said:

I don't need the Cygnet to make my fleet [average] go down," he says. "We have reduced our fleet [emissions] average in the past three years by 27 per cent, we are meeting our European and American requirements for small manufacturers. We have different targets to large manufacturers.

Funny, another article quoting Dr Bez and stating it was for emissions.

"The Cygnet needs to satisfy the demands of emissions and space..."

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/aston-c...

[Neil1300R]

stimshady said:

Funny, another article quoting Dr Bez and stating it was for emissions.

"The Cygnet needs to satisfy the demands of emissions and space..."

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/aston-c...

To lower emissions they would need to actually sell some! Which they are not. AM sell under 10,000 units per annum so don't need to meet the current EU car manufacturer emissions regulations regardless of the number of ugly swans sold.

[RichB]

I have said it before and will say again, if they had called it the Tickford Town Car by Aston Martin no one would even be discussing it. Fact it is it's got the biggest set of Aston wings on the front and it's not an Aston it's a styling exercise and that's exactly what Tickford were known for.

[stimshady]

Neil1300R said:

To lower emissions they would need to actually sell some! Which they are not.

True, i have never seen even 1 on the road!

[avinalarf]

RichB said:

I have said it before and will say again, if they had called it the Tickford Town Car by Aston Martin no one would even be discussing it. Fact it is it's got the biggest set of Aston wings on the front and it's not an Aston it's a styling exercise and that's exactly what Tickford were known for.

Exactly what I commented at the time.

[RJM993]

I believe that at the time of design they didn't know what the EU regs would be and whether they'd get a volume exemption. It also gave them a potential in with Toy Yoda.

[yeti]

The emissions thing is a red herring - Toyota is the manufacturer so Aston couldn't use it if they wanted to.

Which they don't need to.