Aston Martin Cygnet (Toyota iQ) heads for production!

[Kal-El]

Originally Posted by PK198105

another car for pretentious and vain people:

exclusivity is nothing , just makes you look like a snob to the rest of the normal people. and you look like an idiot for having spent another stupid amount for a car that you can get for under 20k with proper reliability from Toyota instead of a overpriced mechanic magnet.

and Im sorry but that interior looks like a gaudy Luis Vuitton purse...i just threw up a bit

There's a lot of snobs out there. Like it or not, people buy BRANDS to show off and to be exclusive. Which is why car companies had to launch luxury brands, particularly in America, rather than Toyota, Honda, Nissan, ect. simply using their core brands to move upmarket. They had to create Lexus, Acura, and Infiniti. It's argued, and pretty accurate, that people won't spend $80K for a car with a "regular" badge on it.

Unfortunately, brand perception is just as important as the product itself. It's why Hyundai still has it's old name to overcome even though they now build superb products. They're even playing with luxury with the Genesis and now the Equus. The Equus will be very hard to sell ($55K Hyundai) even though it competes with $75K cars.

Just the way it is.

[jpmck03]

Originally Posted by why?

Don't be so sure. But anyways, it isn't about gas mileage, it is about not driving a 250,000 car into a city. They get to show they are Aston owners without risking some reject hitting their car with a honda civic, or some other piece of junk.

I'm not sure that that logic works.. as they still risk some "reject" hitting their over-the-top-expensive Aston Martin/iQ, right?

It's still their fancy smug-mobile getting dinged by some common man's econobox...

[redglare45]

I wonder what kind of tweaks Aston will do under the hood?

[why?]

Originally Posted by jpmck03

I'm not sure that that logic works.. as they still risk some "reject" hitting their over-the-top-expensive Aston Martin/iQ, right?

It's still their fancy smug-mobile getting dinged by some common man's econobox...

well obviously, but as was noted a ton of the body panels are identical to the toyota, and it is a ton cheaper to repair the toyota than an aston martin.

Originally Posted by redglare45

I wonder what kind of tweaks Aston will do under the hood?

they aren't doing any.

[wooverstone8]

Originally Posted by Yar Is Word

interior

Some parts of that interior looks alright, but the rest looks overly done and somewhat tacky…

[advocate]

Originally Posted by wooverstone8

From what I understand the purpose of the Cygnet is to allow Aston Martin fleet to comply with strict emissions rules that the European Union is putting into place for 2012?

This is correct. Aston Martin's average MPG across its fleet is not high enough.

Which is why they've bought the one of the cheapest cars Toyota makes with one of the highest MPGs.

Smart on their part.

And yes, people will buy it for the AM badge. And yes, they will be snobs. But rich people buy dumb stuff all the time. Nothing new here.

[yaris2010RS]

im willing to spend alot of money on the interior alone......... i want that in my yaris

[KCALB SIRAY]

Originally Posted by PK198105

but that is what I like about Hyundai , they didn't change their name (yet) to please conceited snobs into buying their product.

For me an Acura is still a Honda a Lexus is still Toyota and Infinity is still Nissan, I don't get influenced by a simple name change, the parts still come from the same factory pretty much and are interchangeable look at the Acura 1.7EL and a Civic...same bloody parts. and to go back on topic if the "Aston" will be built by the Brits it won't be anywhere near as good as the actual iQ, it is a well known fact Brits can built a great looking car and somewhat performant but t will last a year before it goes back to the mechanic

...AAAAND Hyundai Genesis kicked the Mercedes E class all up and down the court