Aston Martin Cygnet: More Ugly Duckling Than Swan

In the immortal words of James Bond, this new Aston Martin has left me "Shaken, not stirred." I will file this under the "What The Hell Are They Thinking?" file. 

The only thing they have right about this car is the name: Cygnet ... it truly is small and ugly (no offense meant to baby swan lovers).

Small cars are going to be part of the future in a ways we didn't imagine not too long ago; namely, there are going to be a lot more of them and they're going to be more expensive than we would have thought possible.

Gallery: Aston Martin Cygnet

At the top of the tree is a small car unlike any other we can remember: the Cygnet, a union of the world's premier luxury brands and one of the world's premier budget brands. The Cygnet, you see, is a Toyota iQ dressed up to look like an Aston Martin.

Aston Martin and Lexus shared a pitlane garage at last year's Nurburgring 24-Hour race. Aston CEO Dr. Ulrich Bez had a few words with Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda, and it is said that that's where the idea for the Cygnet began.

Aston's official explanation for Cygnet, likened to "an exclusive tender to a luxury yacht," is that it "represents a creative, environmentally conscious solution, being small, yet with presence — and highly fuel efficient, now combined with the prestige of Aston Martin's luxury brand ownership." Dr. Bez said the Cygnet is a "distinctive, intelligent and exclusive solution for urban travel in style and luxury," and that it "will allow us to apply Aston Martin design language, craftsmanship and brand values to a completely new segment of the market."

How will it do that? It's all in the dressing.

Toyota will ship iQs to Aston Martin's factory in Gaydon, England. There will only be one mechanical spec available, fitted with a 1.3-liter, 97-hp engine and a CVT transmission. There, the tiny car's exterior will be reshaped with Aston cues like hood and side scoops, pull-out door handles, new taillights, and a miniature version of Aston's grille. It also rides on exclusive wheels larger than the iQs standard rims. And it has Aston badges.

Inside, the revamp will be more compelling. The iQ gets thick, hand-stitched leather slathered everywhere, veneers, different instrument details, and the Emotion Control Unit key system that James Bond showed off to glorious effect in Casino Royale. Most importantly, though, buyers will have access to the same range of customization options they would get if buying a more traditional Aston, so a Cygnet could end up costing as much as an E Class.

The first question you probably have about this car is "What does 'cygnet' mean?" That one is easy: it means a young swan.

Your next question, "But why?", doesn't have an answer that anyone outside Aston has yet pinned down. 

Aston said that about 30% of its buyers have a small car, like a Mini or smart fortwo, that they use for quick trips. In that case, there's no reason Aston should leave BMW and Mercedes to make that money, and the Cygnet will help keep Aston owners in the brand family round-the-clock. As well, unlike Bentley and Rolls-Royce, Aston has no corporate parent selling more efficient vehicles that could offset Aston's understandably elevated emissions and fuel consumption figures: the Cygnet gets 48.9 miles to the gallon and emits 120 g/km of CO2. The most frugal Aston gets about 16 mpg and emits 318 g/km of CO2. Those kinds of numbers can make a huge difference in a lineup with just four cars.

Aston hasn't released an exact price, but suggested something in the neighborhood of €25,000 to €30,000, which equates to $36,000 to $43,000 in the U.S. In Germany that base Toyota iQ retails for €17,200. Those U.S. prices don't matter for the time being, though, since the Cygnet will only be sold in Europe to begin with, and only to Aston Martin owners. Production numbers have been estimated to be anywhere from 1,000 to 4,000 annually, which would be about 20% of Aston's sales on the low end, 80% on the high end.

The Cygnet is expected to go into production at the end of 2010 and eventually zoom on over here to the States. Aston will have plenty of time to tweak its strategy before that happens, and it will also have plenty of bellweathers to monitor: the small cars on the way from mass market luxury makers will help take the American buyer's pulse, and the Scion version of the iQ is said to be arriving next year. In the meantime the English maker of bespoke luxury cars will be making sure its reputation isn't cratered by applying its brand of lipstick to the eminently kissable lips of a Toyota iQ.

As one would expect of Aston, however, the Cygnet will have one final trick up its sleeve in comparison to every other supermini unveiled by a mass market luxury maker: since you need to own an Aston to buy a Cygnet, the cheapest Cygnet will set you back about $140,000. At that price, no one will ever doubt that you have bought the Aston Martin of small cars.

via autos.aol.com