Design language - All Comments

re: Keeping an open mind on the Aston Martin Cygnet

rosstopher — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 08:13:53 GMT

"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!

re: Keeping an open mind on the Aston Martin Cygnet

chrisso — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 08:04:24 GMT

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!

re: Keeping an open mind on the Aston Martin Cygnet

GaryW — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:03:41 GMT

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.

re: Keeping an open mind on the Aston Martin Cygnet

Flyingscud — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:38:11 GMT

The Aston Martin FigLeaf???

re: Keeping an open mind on the Aston Martin Cygnet

Mk2srus — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:10:46 GMT

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.

re: Keeping an open mind on the Aston Martin Cygnet

jsr123 — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:57:11 GMT

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.

re: Keeping an open mind on the Aston Martin Cygnet

SDR — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:02:37 GMT

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....

re: Audi LED running lights? No thanks

dingju — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 07:42:27 GMT

Mr Vanquish, from the feedback of some clients , they informed that new developed LED car light has the function of resisting the error report showed on OBD, so our company try to design and testing this kinds of car light. meanwhile , it means that for the normal LED car lighting will be replaced by this kindly LED car lighting which can worked well in the new developed car ?

re: New Citroen C3 - a supermini you'll want to buy

Cheltenhamshire — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 07:30:49 GMT

As the driver of my wife's current model C3, well .... honest review, handles like a 2CV, rides better than our Honda Civic (and the Alfa 147, Merc C-Class and other cars before it) ... built from egg boxes, cheap to run (20,000 services, cheap tax, 45mpg overal from a 1.4 petrol) and roomy as you sit upright.

So the new one, well if it is built properly .... has firmer dampers and a stiffer body (so can keep the soft springs) ..... will be a success. What the UK needs and wants is a good riding, roomy but small and cheap to run car. Not a hard riding *** chariot that is 'sporty' .... I fail to see the point of a 'sporty' car in the UK. If you want a sports car then go for it, but a 'sporty' van, 4x4, family car?? Pointless on the UK's rubbish dirt tracks that pass for roads.

re: Keeping an open mind on the Aston Martin Cygnet

RacingPuma — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 07:14:08 GMT

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

re: Keeping an open mind on the Aston Martin Cygnet

jl4069 — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 02:19:56 GMT

"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.

re: Keeping an open mind on the Aston Martin Cygnet

muddydrover — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 23:25:14 GMT

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!

re: Keeping an open mind on the Aston Martin Cygnet

Overdrive — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 22:42:18 GMT

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?

re: New Citroen C3 - a supermini you'll want to buy

catnip — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 22:22:51 GMT

I think this is a much nicer looking car than the DS3, which I find disappointing. Its almost as if theyve tried too hard with the DS3 to make it look different, and just ended up with something contrived and over complicated, with its MINI style roof, etc. This, on the other hand, is much simpler, and all the better for it, and looks to me far more classy than all the DS3 images I've seen.

re: Keeping an open mind on the Aston Martin Cygnet

Uncle Mellow — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 21:59:50 GMT

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.