The Cygnet- AM's view. Interesting.

[hunt_the_fox]

I saw a Cygnet in the flesh the other day being parked outside Hackett on Slone Square, it was being parked by a lad from AM so I went to have a chat with his and it wad very interesting. I, like most other PHers thought it was a pointless car but having spoken to him I have kind of changed my mind.

What he said can be summarised as follows-

- Current AM fleet has a very niche market appeal
- Next to no women buy AMs
- Cygnet designed to be a small city car for the likes of zone one London
- People who buy this type of car want it to be small for parking, believe it or not this is apparently their no one priority.
- There are no luxury tiny cars on the market or any with a prestige brand.
- They apparently don't need to sell many to see profit.
- They are relaxed about petrolheads not liking it as they are not the target market.
- They don't think it will dilute the brand.

I kind of agreed with him on most of it apart from the last but thinking about it, would the cygnet's existence stop me buying a DB9 if I could afford it- no.

I sat in it and I have to say if I wanted a car like that (which I don't) and had pots of cash (which I don't) then I'd go for it- so much nicer than a Smart/Merc A/other city crapbox.

In summary it seems that AM have seen a gap in the market and nailed it- fair play to them!

[Or888t]

I'm coming round to similar conclusions...
I think your right. Sad(?) but true.

[hornetrider]

It's not necessarily the concept per se, it's the fact that it's a pure badge engineering exercise.

[George H]

I used to hate it, but I quite like it now. Not asthetically, but there is no supermini that gives a nicer place to sit imo. If I lived in the city I would have one.

[GSP]

hunt_the_fox said:

- They apparently don't need to sell many to see profit.

No Kidding... It's a £10k fking car, with an Aston badge and an inflated pricetag of £40k.

I imagine they need to sell one to make a profit!!!

[y2blade]

hunt_the_fox said:

I saw a Cygnet in the flesh the other day being parked outside Hackett on Slone Square, it was being parked by a lad from AM so I went to have a chat with his and it wad very interesting. I, like most other PHers thought it was a pointless car but having spoken to him I have kind of changed my mind.

What he said can be summarised as follows-

- Current AM fleet has a very niche market appeal
- Next to no women buy AMs
- Cygnet designed to be a small city car for the likes of zone one London
- People who buy this type of car want it to be small for parking, believe it or not this is apparently their no one priority.
- There are no luxury tiny cars on the market or any with a prestige brand.
- They apparently don't need to sell many to see profit.
- They are relaxed about petrolheads not liking it as they are not the target market.
- They don't think it will dilute the brand.

I kind of agreed with him on most of it apart from the last but thinking about it, would the cygnet's existence stop me buying a DB9 if I could afford it- no.

I sat in it and I have to say if I wanted a car like that (which I don't) and had pots of cash (which I don't) then I'd go for it- so much nicer than a Smart/Merc A/other city crapbox.

In summary it seems that AM have seen a gap in the market and nailed it- fair play to them!

yep


the one at sunday service the other month drew a bigger crowd than the chap revving the tits off his Lamborghini ...oh how we laughed

[Garlick]

Those directives aren't new though, they have said this since day one and still the backlash was strong. I believe we (and other mags/ websites) have published these thoughts before, yet at the time nobody listened.

Interesting to see a change of heart coming through.

[y2blade]

Garlick said:

Those directives aren't new though, they have said this since day one and still the backlash was strong. I believe we (and other mags/ websites) have published these thoughts before, yet at the time nobody listened.

Interesting to see a change of heart coming through.

PistonHeads.com...la la la were not listening

[Mr Gear]

I don't hate it, but I wonder why anyone would buy one when they could have a Toyota IQ for half the money. The IQ is a perfectly good car that would suit anyone with the exact same set of requirements as a Cygnet customer.

...unless they are massive badge snobs that wouldn't be seen dead in a Toyota... in which case they are clearly cretinous.

[Rawwr]

hunt_the_fox said:

- They don't think it will dilute the brand.

They're wrong. Its very existence dilutes the brand, just in the same way a Ferrari-branded letter opener or Porsche-branded aluminium dildo would.

[George H]

Mr Gear said:

I don't hate it, but I wonder why anyone would buy one when they could have a Toyota IQ for half the money. The IQ is a perfectly good car that would suit anyone with the exact same set of requirements as a Cygnet customer.

...unless they are massive badge snobs that wouldn't be seen dead in a Toyota... in which case they are clearly cretinous.

What if you already own an Aston Martin and want it to match? I know if I got one, it would be in the same colour, and same coloured interior.

[Rawwr]

Mr Gear said:

...unless they are massive badge snobs that wouldn't be seen dead in a Toyota... in which case they are clearly cretinous.

To be fair, isn't that the bulk of Aston Martin's customer base these days?

[kambites]

I think part of their problem is that people think the Cygnet is an IQ. In a car that never leaves the city and spends half its time in traffic jams, surely the interior is one of the most important factors?

[Mr Gear]

George H said:

What if you already own an Aston Martin and want it to match? I know if I got one, it would be in the same colour, and same coloured interior.

Only the mentally-ill feel they need matching cars.

[greygoose]

George H said:

What if you already own an Aston Martin and want it to match? I know if I got one, it would be in the same colour, and same coloured interior.

I could think of nothing sadder to be honest. A person I know who works for AM thinks it is a terrible idea and reflects badly on the company. If AM need to produce vehicles with improved economy and lower emissions then they should look at making an electric sports car rather than blinging up an iQ.

[ewenm]

greygoose said:

I could think of nothing sadder to be honest. A person I know who works for AM thinks it is a terrible idea and reflects badly on the company. If AM need to produce vehicles with improved economy and lower emissions then they should look at making an electric sports car rather than blinging up an iQ.

And where do they get the funding for that R&D? A key feature of the Cygnet is that it is a cheap and easy way to produce a car with better mpg and lower emissions.

[George H]

greygoose said:

I could think of nothing sadder to be honest. A person I know who works for AM thinks it is a terrible idea and reflects badly on the company. If AM need to produce vehicles with improved economy and lower emissions then they should look at making an electric sports car rather than blinging up an iQ.

Disagree entirely. Existing Aston owners aren't going to flock to order an electric one, yet they might order a city car and keep their sports one for weekends.

If Aston brought out an electric sports car, I would be leaving the brand very quickly.

[y2blade]

greygoose said:

George H said:

What if you already own an Aston Martin and want it to match? I know if I got one, it would be in the same colour, and same coloured interior.

I could think of nothing sadder to be honest. A person I know who works for AM thinks it is a terrible idea and reflects badly on the company. If AM need to produce vehicles with improved economy and lower emissions then they should look at making an electric sports car rather than blinging up an iQ.

wow...you are clearly in the wrong job

[jdw1234]

Mr Gear said:

George H said:

What if you already own an Aston Martin and want it to match? I know if I got one, it would be in the same colour, and same coloured interior.

Only the mentally-ill feel they need matching cars.

Probably the type of Aston driver with a matt black wrap and a butchered numberplate trying to read 007.

[g3org3y]

If they had built the Cygnet from the ground up, perhaps I'd respect their view point a bit more. Fact is, it's an IQ with a tarted up interior.

Call it 'IQ by Aston' or reinstate some of the old names but don't put an AM badge on the front.

The AM badge on the front of a car is supposed to represent many things, certain core brand values. The Cygnet IQ has none of these.

Iirc, one of the AM directors (?) discussing it stated that it is "the only car of this class with a metal grill". Epic selling point.

I prefer the Rollys Royce Edition MINI. Yes it has RR tarty up bits, but above all, it's a MINI and it says so on the badge and the V5.