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Discussion
yeti said:
But a little town car... a Fiat 500 Abarth, hot Mini or VW's small GTi-de-jour makes so much more sense. Aston should have made the Cygnet better, not just prettier. Power, noise, handling, something to differentiate it!
A proper little hot hatch would have been brilliant, something reminiscent of the fantastic Lupo GTI 
Or if they had gone the other way and made it so it was congestion charge free (doesn't bother me but I hear it's a pain for you city dwellers) it would have made a lot more sense.
Or they could have made it look like this:
yeti said:
That's a fantastic little rendering - Alfa 147 based maybe?
At least the Cygnet could be classed as joke car, whereas that would be a very 'real' Aston Martin at £30k. It would also have to be front wheel drive in all liklihood and would be up against extremely stiff competition.
Vanquish based Bertone Jet II. Done as a homage to the original DB4 GT Bertone Jet At least the Cygnet could be classed as joke car, whereas that would be a very 'real' Aston Martin at £30k. It would also have to be front wheel drive in all liklihood and would be up against extremely stiff competition.
No reason why they couldn't graft a body like that onto something like a Golf though.
George H said:
yeti said:
That's a fantastic little rendering - Alfa 147 based maybe?
At least the Cygnet could be classed as joke car, whereas that would be a very 'real' Aston Martin at £30k. It would also have to be front wheel drive in all liklihood and would be up against extremely stiff competition.
Vanquish based Bertone Jet II. Done as a homage to the original DB4 GT Bertone Jet At least the Cygnet could be classed as joke car, whereas that would be a very 'real' Aston Martin at £30k. It would also have to be front wheel drive in all liklihood and would be up against extremely stiff competition.
No reason why they couldn't graft a body like that onto something like a Golf though.
Wowee, that's a car that completely passed me by! Absolutely lovely, but Bertone's work is recogniseable anywhere with those 147 lines 
As a sub-Vantage (how low can you go?) with a six or some sort and RWD, that'd be worth £50-60k of plenty of people's money, expensive Cayman rival. Aston need a big partner, maybe access to the Toyota GT86 thing with that body on it and Toyota's V6? Itls not like they don't already have the iQ from them...
To produce it, they'd have to make 20,000/yr +. Aston would be likely be diluted as a premium brand.
A bit like badging a FIAT Coupe Turbo as a Ferrari. Fast enough, good looking enough, but with 50,000 of them out there, every nobber could own a Cavallino Rampante. Where's the snob value in that
As a sub-Vantage (how low can you go?) with a six or some sort and RWD, that'd be worth £50-60k of plenty of people's money, expensive Cayman rival. Aston need a big partner, maybe access to the Toyota GT86 thing with that body on it and Toyota's V6? Itls not like they don't already have the iQ from them...
To produce it, they'd have to make 20,000/yr +. Aston would be likely be diluted as a premium brand.
A bit like badging a FIAT Coupe Turbo as a Ferrari. Fast enough, good looking enough, but with 50,000 of them out there, every nobber could own a Cavallino Rampante. Where's the snob value in that
George H said:
...
No reason why they couldn't graft a body like that onto something like a Golf though.
Apart from successfully murdering the brand even better than the iQ (sorry, Cygnet).No reason why they couldn't graft a body like that onto something like a Golf though.
It's a dafter idea than the Cygnet (which at least everyone can see as a joke!). And should not be necessary.
It's looking increasingly like the business model is flawed. Moving down market and upping volumes for a "high prestige" manufacturer is a mistake. You pin your colours against volume and when things don't quite work out, you end up forcing sales on dealers and flooding the market. It only takes a little tip over the edge to hit that point, and unfortunately Aston weren't really properly in their stride with their revitalised range when the recession hit - and where they were wanting to play was, in my opinion, the most sensitive market segment to recessions.
What they need is to improve the cars dynamically and control supply much, much better. Make then ultra-desirable by making them better than the opposition and ensuring that people have to wait or pay premiums to get into one.
The brand is still very powerful. And when they don't chuff about with them the designs are amongst the best out there. They should be able to compete with the Ferraris and Lambos of this world much better than Porsche etc can.
And weirdness like the Virage...just makes them seem even more confused. Bin the DB9 and just build the Virage. Stop pretending it's something different.
George H said:
A proper little hot hatch would have been brilliant, something reminiscent of the fantastic Lupo GTI
Or if they had gone the other way and made it so it was congestion charge free (doesn't bother me but I hear it's a pain for you city dwellers) it would have made a lot more sense.
Or they could have made it look like this:
Lovely legs!Or if they had gone the other way and made it so it was congestion charge free (doesn't bother me but I hear it's a pain for you city dwellers) it would have made a lot more sense.
Or they could have made it look like this:
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