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TegTypeR June 29, 2009 11:39 AM

I think it will work, and will be a success amongst current Aston onwners (or their spouses).  The question is if it will dilute the brand?  If they execute it properly (bespoke interior as well as the exterior), then I think they'll pull it off.

NAK June 29, 2009 11:47 AM

I am open minded to the idea of an Aston Martin iQ but surely this has been done before. The Tickford Metro etc. A few weeks back we had the Rolls Royce trimmed Mini. The Panther Rio - a super luxury Dolomite.

Not utterly opposed but surely this is just a rehashed old idea.

One thing that intrigues me is that if this is a success will a Lexus version that is half way in price between the Toyota and Aston appear?

phenergn June 29, 2009 12:17 PM

How about they badge it Lagonda?

I just don't see how a 1.0 litre, 3 cylinder, front wheel drive city car can possibly not dilute the Aston brand.

I wish the best to Aston Martin, and if they go ahead with this I hope it succeeds, but I can't help thinking some things have never been done before for a reason!

SDR June 29, 2009 12:20 PM

Sounds like a small work of genius to me.  A great little trinket for existing AM clients and as such something unique to differentiate the AM ownership experience, great potential from a tie-up with possibly the best mass-market manufacturer in the world with some of the most established usable hybrid technologies, and also a useful diversification for AM in troubled times - certainly good for the CO2 average, and will keep the factory busy.  On top of that, relevant to the market as a whole - I suspect there are a useful number of people to whom a small, attractive, prestige and beautifully trimmed car would appeal.

Commendably innovative thinking from Dr Bez - top bloke.

S.

obamabeach June 29, 2009 12:25 PM

'Cygnet'? Ugly duckling. Okay it's not physically repellent but the cynicism of the concept is.

Like George Best opening a tawdry London clothes shop - bizzare waste and doomed to failure.

Has Aston Martin gone nuts since Arab money called the tunes there? This smacks of the sheikh's little lady's(ladies') pootle-mobile version of a Gucci handbag.

How sad that the original micro-car concept driven by the Swatch watch man's vision of classless, low-cost, high-quality urban motorisation gets disfigured into this nonsense in today's f*cked-up world.

Is it true that Aston Martin offers AM-badged B&Q plastic wheelbarrows at a reasonable £99.99 ea. which can be used to cart this rubbish off to the tip?

deepheatthemovie June 29, 2009 12:32 PM

Well, I wouldn't go that far perhaps, but this is no looker, despite Cropley's insistence. Lagonda-badges might be more appropriate?

ordinary bloke June 29, 2009 12:57 PM

Great idea. The iQ is a great little car and what better run-a-around would an Aston owner want just to pop to the local shops or into a city centre rather tan taking the DB9 etc ? If it also helps Aston to reduce their corporate C02 emmisions on the range, then that's all to the good. Good bit of lateral thinking by Dr.Bez.

dmacdonald June 29, 2009 1:09 PM

This has been done before (if not very successfully) both via custom builders as others have mentioned above (e.g. Tickford Metros and radford Minis etc) and in house by BL who produced the Allegro Vanden Plas and, I think, a Vanden Plas version of a late 60s Morris saloon.

The concept seems like a good idea to me.  If the interior quality is up to it, it could be a genuine niche car.  We're being encouraged to downsize/inprove fuel economy but there's no option of a small luxury car because even within established ranges quality tends to fall with size - an A Class does not have the same interior fit and finish as an S Class but there's no reason why it shouldn't.

38carssofar June 29, 2009 1:12 PM

Corporate CO2 emissions .... that is up there at the top of Govt. league tables of uselessness along with School exam results and NHS Hospital's performances ....

julianphillips June 29, 2009 1:57 PM

Aston should buy the Lancia brand and use it to badge this sort of thing.  I think it was what Lancia were/are aiming for with the 'Y' and other models.

optimal_909 June 29, 2009 2:55 PM

This looks more like a badge engineered car, and drawing similarities between Mini and IQ is very brave indeed. A disaster.

If Aston really needs something this, they should have taken it more seriously - like making a separate design based on Smart.

And as mentioned by others, Lagonda would be definitely better as a nameplate, at least they would not be forced to draw a GT front for a city car.

papagomp June 29, 2009 3:04 PM

Brave Brave move. First thought was "Oh no", but this has a lot more merit than the suv Lagonda. Indeed, maybe this should be a Lagonda. Indeed,  I can see it a bit bigger (just Like the Lincoln Concept premium Super Mini from a year ago) almost the biggest threat to the mini, but more bespoke, more special, then it might become even more the yacht tender image that Bez is reported to be talking about.

Team Sparky June 29, 2009 3:42 PM

Oh my God.....you have got to be kidding....

Astons mantra will take some hammering;

Power...(need a bloody good imagination here...)

Beauty...(nah....)

Soul....(of a Toyota (let's be honest we have a contradiction in terms here..!!)

BIG MISTAKE...KILL IT NOW........

scrap June 29, 2009 6:36 PM

Steve,

You have phoned Aston Martin to check this isn't a hoax, right?

kdwilcox June 29, 2009 7:22 PM

There is only one word i can think of

MAD.

manicm June 29, 2009 8:56 PM

Completely rubbish and cynical, now all Ferrari has to do is re-badge a 500 with the Prancing Horse - only I like the 500 but find the iQ an overpriced abomination.

Uncle Mellow June 29, 2009 10:59 PM

Strange sentiments here. The 500 is a Panda dressed-up to look like a 60's Cinquecento , whereas the IQ is an original design concept, demonstrating the shortcomings of the Smart.

Overdrive June 29, 2009 11:42 PM

Whichever way Mr. Cropley and others choose to dress this up, the idea of Aston Martin, maker of top of the market luxury sports/supercars with all that history, getting involved in selling rebadged Toyota bean cans just seems ill-conceived, to put it mildly.

What would 007 say, for cyring out loud?

muddydrover June 30, 2009 12:25 AM

A Nissan that's really a Suzuki, A Ford that's really a Fiat. A Peuguot that's a Citroen, that's also a Toyota, now an Aston that's really a Toyota at twice the price!

Defies belief!

jl4069 June 30, 2009 3:19 AM

"The Cygnet will set out a completely original course through automotive history, and how it fares will fascinating for us all."

These are words spoken as if from a profit. I suppose your confidence holds you up well. You've been a marketer most of these 15 or so years sir. And marketing is dying game. Many get the marketing joke: A box is box is box is a BOX- fascinating.

RacingPuma June 30, 2009 8:14 AM

I wish Aston Martin had done this 8 or 9 years ago with the Ford Racing Puma - a far more worthy base for this treatment.

www.twitter.com/RacingPuma

SDR June 30, 2009 10:02 AM

Interesting collection of responses, I wonder how many from current or realistically potential AM owners.  Shall we guess?  

Surprising so many people see an infinite and profitable future for a company which continues to produce nothing but hugely expensive, totally impractical large engined petrol powered vehicles in small but not tiny numbers.  Lucky the world's not changing... must be why all those zeppelin manufacturers and leech farmers are still doing so well.

Best just keep doing that then AM, yes, that'll work.  Don't go changin' - it worked for the dinosaurs!  Oh, no wait....

jsr123 June 30, 2009 12:57 PM

And just the responses that I expected :) We are currently weathering the harshest recession ever experienced by most Brits. and so naturally, risk averse consumers frown on brave concepts only just given the green light.

They want to see illustrious names like Aston signing off a concept befitting of their badge and heritage. Clearly, a re-skinned, three cyclinder city car, built for the i.pod generation, however striking, will as Steve says, polarise opinion like no other.

In many ways, I agree with the cynics and think Aston should have started with more sophisticated underpinnings. However solidly constructed, sweetly balanced and well packaged the donor car is, the torsion beam rear suspension deprives it of the ride-refinement that buyers of 'prestige' motors expect. With it's independently sprung rear arrangement, the Mini would have made the perfect donor car but I don't think BMW would have agreed to this alliance and the profits for both sides, would have been too slim to justify the project.  

Perhaps existing Aston owners, or those waiting in the wings for that new Rapide or Vantage V12 will purchase a Cygnet for their other half. From all angles I think that it's a perfectly proportioned stunner. Maybe wives and girlfriends will take to it like a Cygnet to water then :)

Will the interior, swathed in Connolly leather in some no doubt 'interesting' colour combos. be enough to sway the doubters?! Only time will tell but I hope this car succeeds :) I strongly believe that it can help the marque continue on the road to profitability that began in 2004, when the great Dr Uli. Bez launched the VH platform - and the first of it's five children, the DB9 - to an expectant media crowd.    

Mk2srus June 30, 2009 4:10 PM

First of all as an Aston fan, let me say that I hope the Cygnet is a rip-roaring success. The thinking behind it is certainly innovative, no doubt about it. Dr Bez will have industry tongues wagging for sure.

What I don't get is the numbers. How many Cygnets would Aston have to shift to make it profitable and how much of a market is there for a £25k, 2 seater city car. Yes I know that the iQ is a 3/4seater but this is with Toyota's amazing packaging work. Once trimmed to the standards befitting the Aston Martin badge surely there will only be room for two, with what little space is left in the rear to be devoted to the posh luggage that the well to do owners have to carry.

A market analyst I am not and who am I to pick faults with the ideas of a great man like Dr. Bez. Someone at the accountants has obviously crunched the numbers and decided that the project will leave Aston in the black so I guess we'll just have to wait and see if they can prove the doubting Thomas' wrong. I wish AM the very best of luck.

Flyingscud June 30, 2009 4:38 PM

The Aston Martin FigLeaf???

GaryW June 30, 2009 5:03 PM

Obituary: Steve Cropley's critical faculties - barely alive for many years - have finally died.  In what way is tarting up a cheap car, slapping on a premium badge and charging a fortune for it a new or unique idea?

I bet Steve's waiting for the launch of the Jaguar Nano: with its leaping-moggie bonnet mascot only adding £20K to the price of the Tata original, and only for sale to owners of beige 1983 XJ12s, it's a brave and unique offering from JLR.

chrisso July 1, 2009 9:04 AM

Thought it was April Fools Day at first, but apparently not!

Very risky but they may just pull it off.  Probably one of those cars that either fail spectacularly or really catch people's imagination.

Part of me thinks they really shouldn't, but a baby AM with all the trimmings?  Could be tempted.........

And it may just be the most reliable Aston yet!

rosstopher July 1, 2009 9:13 AM

"Completely rubbish and cynical, now all Ferrari has to do is re-badge a 500 with the Prancing Horse - only I like the 500 but find the iQ an overpriced abomination."

Er........ They did!

tony2x July 10, 2009 10:24 PM

Love the styling buck but I have reservations about them leaving the mechanicals unchanged.  You could turbocharge that little three pot without harming its green credentials *too* much and stay true to the performance ethos of Aston Martin.

That said, I applaud AM for this move.  It will lower their average CO2 significantly as they'll be able to shift more of these than the rest of the range combined.  They also picked a genuinely innovative car to make their own.

I wonder if this will start a trend as other luxury manufacturers try and lower their CO2 output...

How about these for some ideas:

Lamborghini Polo

Ferrari 500 (not to be confused with the 430,599 or 612 of course)

Porsche Fox

Pagani A-class?

Koenigsegg 9-1

Lotus Satria?

:-o

Done right it will be a massive success.

a6gcs July 27, 2009 10:47 PM

A-M must have given Cropley an even better lunch (and loan of a Vantage V8 convertable) than Tata did/could.