The story
History
The Cygnet came out of a problem of arithmetic. The credit crunch of 2008 hit sales of expensive cars, and the European Union’s rules for 2012 judged each maker on the average CO2 of all the cars it sold, a threat to a firm that made only cars with big engines.source 1source 2source 3 A small, frugal car with Aston Martin’s badge would bring the average down. In June 2009 pictures of a full-size clay model appeared online, and the Aston Martin Owners Club’s forum, in the words of AstonMartins.com, “went ballistic”.source 2 The concept appeared at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2010, and that October Aston Martin confirmed that it would build the car at Gaydon.source 2source 1 Its chief executive, Dr Ulrich Bez, said that it showed the company’s “commitment to innovation and integrity” while respecting the need to “satisfy demands of emissions and space”.source 1
Underneath was the Toyota iQ, a car designed at Toyota’s European studio in Nice. Its clever packaging included an offset dashboard that let the front passenger sit ahead of the driver, leaving room for one usable seat behind: three seats, and one more.source 1source 4 Complete iQs in black, white or silver were shipped from Toyota’s Takaoka plant in Japan to Gaydon, where Aston Martin refinished and retrimmed them.source 4 They kept the iQ 1.33’s 1,329 cc four-cylinder engine of 97 bhp, with a six-speed manual gearbox or a CVT, and drove the front wheels.source 1source 4source 3 The Cygnet was 3,078 mm (121 in) long, 93 mm more than the iQ, and 108 mm longer than the 2,970 mm Fiat Nuova 500, the yardstick for every car on these pages; it is here as a famous oddity (see what is a microcar).source 1 Buyers could have the full Aston Martin personalisation programme: any colour, any trim.source 4
Three times the price
Sales in Britain began in January 2011, with Launch Editions in white and in black, by English Wikipedia’s account; AstonMartins.com has the first customer cars following the production car’s showing at Geneva that March.source 1source 2 At about £30,000, or £30,995 for the introductory manual car, the Cygnet cost roughly three times as much as an iQ.source 1source 4source 3 Bez forecast about 4,000 a year, with existing Aston Martin owners given priority.source 1 Plans to sell it in the United States were dropped.source 2 There was also a Cygnet & colette, made with the Paris store, though its details are not recorded.source 2
The buyers did not come. About 150 Cygnets were sold in Britain and fewer than 600 in Europe; European registrations were 261 in 2011, 172 in 2012 and 131 in 2013.source 1source 3 Production ended in September 2013 after a little over two years, the second-shortest run of any Aston Martin after the Virage of 2012.source 1source 2source 3 About 800 are believed to have been built.source 2
The V8
In 2018 Aston Martin’s personalisation department, Q by Aston Martin, built a Cygnet for one customer with the 4.7-litre V8 of the previous Vantage S, 430 bhp, driving the rear wheels through a six-speed automated manual gearbox. It took the Vantage S’s subframes, suspension and brakes, 19-inch wheels under carbon-fibre arch extensions, a new bulkhead and transmission tunnel, a roll cage and bucket seats, and an exhaust that ran under the fuel tank, and it was road-legal.source 1source 3 English Wikipedia gives it 0–100 km/h in 4.2 seconds and 274 km/h (170 mph).source 1 It was shown at the Goodwood Festival of Speed that July.source 3
