You've got to be kidding me?

[ScrapMetal]

Aston Martin, the maker of such gorgeous automobiles such as the

DB4 GT Zagato



the DB7



and the DBS



is now going to be making...

this



It's called the Aston Martin Cygnet, it's based on the Toyota IQ(which is not sold here) and will probably be powered by either the 1.0L or the 1.3L engine from the IQ and achieve something like 65MPG. The car will be sold for £30,000(somewhere around $46,000) and only current Aston Martin owners will be eligible to buy it(don't know who the hell would wanna pay $46K+/- for this thing).

Toyota IQ



Aston Martin will be selling these things to meet the emissions rule by the European Union which will be in place by 2012(kind of like our CAFE rules where each manufacture has to have an average fuel economy rating across their model range). I first heard about this on Top Gear and it got me to thinking, Aston martin is obviously going to be building this thing not because they want to but because they have to. What other manufactures of gas guzzling high luxury/super cars will doing something similar to what Aston is doing, and how will this affect these manufacture's reputation, heritage and look in the eyes of current/future customers.

[RCA]

Nothing is safe...

[TOMMY VERCETTI]

This does not surprise me as car makers are trying to sell cars no matter what it takes.

[TBrack]

lol @ government regulations

[Mr1der]

lol...I'd buy it for around 250k as long as it came with a free DBS

<---anxious to see the Ferrari 500

[Dittoz7]

Remember seeing something about this on top gear. Something about total carbon dioxide output or something like that... Season 15 Episode 3 I believe.

[wingFeather]

April fools?

[Loki]

I saw this on Top Gear also. It's kinda ridiculous. What about Pagani and Bentley and Lamborghini and Ferrari and other supercar makers?

I wanna see a Pagani Kei car

[Jesda]

This makes me very, very angry.

[Otto.]

I wanna see a Pagani Kei car

You're probably the only one.

Hasn't Aston been thinking of making this for a few years now? I thought I saw this picture a while back.

[MellowZ32]

old news is old. :\

[ADDirishboy]

This wasn't even the first time Top Gear has mentioned it.

It's a dumb idea. But then, they are kinda being forced into it.

[Dittoz7]

I saw this on Top Gear also. It's kinda ridiculous. What about Pagani and Bentley and Lamborghini and Ferrari and other supercar makers?

I wanna see a Pagani Kei car

Believe it's only British car makers, not every European maker.

[nissangirl74]

Aston martin is obviously going to be building this thing not because they want to but because they have to.

Who says fuel -efficient cars are supposed to be ugly? I don't know who wrote that memo and passed it around but it seems like the more fuel-efficient a car is, regardless of the manufacturer, the more "eat-up-to-death with ugly" it is.

[AZhitman]

Toyota wasn't satisfied with ruining their own cars, now they've gotta pass the automotive AIDS to everyone else?

[Dittoz7]

Well I think they only have to offer it, not actually sell it. LOL

[Red coupe]

Who says fuel -efficient cars are supposed to be ugly?

Money.

I would imagine if they are only selling this model because they have to they are not thrilled about making it either.

Couple that with the fact that they likely expect low volume of sale because you do not buy an Aston for a cheap eco car...

It would make sense that rather then spend gobs of money designing and styling some dumb car that no one asked for, you would just buy some stupid little car off Toyota, put some stupid little body on it and show the paperwork to the Government.