Monday 30th September 2013

Aston Martin Cygnet axed

But there are still some left if you really, really want one!

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"Without the Cygnet... there won't be any Aston V8s or V12s in future either". So said Marek Reichman, Astons design director, back in 2011 when PH visited Aston about the Toyota iQ-derived city car.

The UK Cygnet owners club out in force...

The justification for creating the Cygnet, as if you needed reminding, was to reduce Aston's average CO2 emissions. But the Cygnet is so vastly outnumbered by the V8 and V12 models that its impact is minor; with the 116g/km city car in the range, Aston's CO2 average is 294g/km. Take it out and that figure rises to 306g/km. Neither figure will be keeping Fiat up at night, and the V12s keep coming...

And today the news surfaces that the Cygnet has been discontinued. We know, a sad moment for the automotive world. The official word from Aston was, err, please leave a message actually. We tried five different press office contacts without answer so clearly the day has been allotted for mourning.

With a minimal influence on emissions, could it actually be that the Cygnet just wasn't that popular? Did potential customers turn their noses up at a car with such mainstream roots, regardless of how far Aston boosted the luxury? Howmanylet.co.uk only has 143 registered for 2013; for some context, it has 209 Virages recorded as on the road.

£20K never looked so expensive

And could the Aston-AMG tie-up have a project planned? There's already been talk of hybridised powertrains, so could a range-wide approach be underway to further reduce emissions? Making every model more efficient has to be a more sustainable approach to lower CO2.

Should you be after a Cygnet, there are an unknown number left at Aston dealers. The list price, probably the most Aston aspect of the Cygnet, is £30,995. For 'bargain' hunting badge snobs who can't face life behind a Toyota badge used prices start at £20K.

[chazwozza]

What? No Cygnet vs M135i comparison first...

[Charlie Michael]

chazwozza said:

What? No Cygnet vs M135i comparison first...

Coming up on PH FB feed tomorrow...

[Matt UK]

Culling it can only be a good thing.

It will go down in the history books as either an amusing joke to try and beat the regs or something so shameful it will be buried in 101 until forgotten.

[MyCC]

Was always a poorly thought out short-term solution and didn't exactly do wonders for the coolness of the Brand.

It won't be missed.

Best regards,

MyCC.

[Dan Trent]

"Quick, Matt, phone BMW and postpone the delivery driver, we need the M135i for another day..."

Etc...

Dan

[Krikkit]

Seen a few of these (by which I mean 4), they look quite amusing out there on the road. If the price wasn't bat-st crazy they'd probably have sold quite a few more.

[Megaflow]

I thought i saw one on the road, the I got close and realised it was an IQ with an Aston badge, and Cygnet added using then nasty chrome letters you get from the local chav tat shop...

[Flying Toilet]

Aston have about 10 parked up outside the dealership in Newport Pagnell, haven't moved for months...

[yeti]

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!!

The Cygnet was not conceived to reduce the average emissions; it is still a Toyota and therefore does not count against Aston's figures!

Secondly, AML are a small volume manfacturer, under 10k units per year, so are exempt from the regulations.

Please stop perpetuating the myth that this was anything other than Dr Bez's 'good idea'.

[jonby]

In fact, overall AML production levels are low enough that they don't need to worry that much from a legal standpoint about emissions - manufacturers like Lamborghini & Ferrari only get caught by the rules because they are part of larger groups - isn't 10,000 cars p.a. globally where it bites ? (AML produce around half that number)

So the one reason that some of us could use to just about get our heads around why Cygnet was built is not valid

Marek's comments in the original article aside, frighteningly AML have never suggested Cygnet was to bring down CO2 emissions and instead, seem to have seen it as a sensible exercise in it's own right !

Just look at (a deluded) Dr Bez's comments below - one assumes the comments about ONE-77 owners are either because cygnets were given free with them or because they were pushed on them - a cygnet costs less than the rose gold switchgear option in a ONE77....

http://news.drive.com.au/drive/motor-news/55000-ci...

[jonby]

yeti said:

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!!

The Cygnet was not conceived to reduce the average emissions; it is still a Toyota and therefore does not count against Aston's figures!

Secondly, AML are a small volume manfacturer, under 10k units per year, so are exempt from the regulations.

Please stop perpetuating the myth that this was anything other than Dr Bez's 'good idea'.

we were typing our posts at the same time so crossed. What he said !!!

[j90gta]

just under £ 22,000 buys a manual V12 DB7 Volante. Not the sharpest drive but what would you prefer to waft about in?

[10 Pence Short]

Aside from low sales, I would have thought the biggest issue was the similarity in head-on look with the current Fiesta, with the branding ills that brings with it.

[crostonian]

Stirling Moss has one so does that not make them cool?

[Dakkon]

crostonian said:

Stirling Moss has one so does that not make them cool?

I think he was given his as am ambasador of the brand

[Fire99]

crostonian said:

Stirling Moss has one so does that not make them cool?

No it means even Sir Stirling can make a mistake.

To be fair, when they get to about £7k, I'd be tempted as an alternative to it's IQ brother.

[VeeDub Geezer]

I quite like it in that green...

[RobS77]

jonby said:

In fact, overall AML production levels are low enough that they don't need to worry that much from a legal standpoint about emissions - manufacturers like Lamborghini & Ferrari only get caught by the rules because they are part of larger groups - isn't 10,000 cars p.a. globally where it bites ? (AML produce around half that number)

So the one reason that some of us could use to just about get our heads around why Cygnet was built is not valid

Marek's comments in the original article aside, frighteningly AML have never suggested Cygnet was to bring down CO2 emissions and instead, seem to have seen it as a sensible exercise in it's own right !

Just look at (a deluded) Dr Bez's comments below - one assumes the comments about ONE-77 owners are either because cygnets were given free with them or because they were pushed on them - a cygnet costs less than the rose gold switchgear option in a ONE77....

http://news.drive.com.au/drive/motor-news/55000-ci...

I thought the same about all the press releases about ONE-77 owners opting to buy cygnets. Out of curiousity, I checked Autotrader shortly afterwards there were around 40 deliver miles Cygnets for sale

[Goatex]

Take it the words 'Power, Beauty, Soul' don't appear on a dashboard display on start-up in a Cygnet?

[LuS1fer]

I've only seen one and it never registered as being anything other than an iQ for quite some time. the concept of a super-luxury mini quite appeals but not at that price and looking like a cheap Toyota.