Ultimate Iq

[sinewell]

http://www.autocar.co.uk/News/NewsArticle/AllCars/241124/

Great news for the iQ - if a company like Aston wants to do this, the little cars place in history looks very bright!

"Aston Martin has struck a ground-breaking deal with Toyota to launch a £20,000 version of the Japanese-built iQ commuter car, badged Aston Martin Cygnet and built at Aston’s Gaydon works in Warwickshire."

[turniphead]

Can't wait to start bolting Aston bits onto mine!

[Insane inda Brain]

Just sell me that front !!

[ollie123_4]

They are to give them away with DB9, DBS and V8 Vantage I heard.

Companies like Aston Martin, Bentley and Ferrari are all about super luxury, super fast, super expensive grand tourers, not compact cars!! :( Wonder who will be the first to make a 4X4.

[PaulT]

What are they doing about the engine, that's what I want to know :D

Paul.

[turniphead]

What I want to know is..........

.......Am I now within my rights to tell everybody that I own an Aston Martin?

[ollie123_4]

What I want to know is..........

.......Am I now within my rights to tell everybody that I own an Aston Martin?

Its gonna be using the engine from the iq3. Not Aston's 5.9 litre V12 sadly lol

[turniphead]

What I want to know is..........

.......Am I now within my rights to tell everybody that I own an Aston Martin?

Its gonna be using the engine from the iq3. Not Aston's 5.9 litre V12 sadly lol

If it had the V12, I think I'd be sitting on the roof! :D

[Lloydy 25]

This is a very cynical piece of marketing by Aston to appear green. They should stick to building world class GT cars. They are not the first British car company to badge-engineer a car then double the price (Cityrover anyone?). According to Dr. Bez, it will be the same 1 litre car underneath but sold only to existing AM customers. Someone will immediately start putting them into the used market for easy profit. And anyone who buys one might as well save £20k by simply getting the word "plonker" tattoo'd on their forehead.

[no_data]

Well said above ^

[PaulT]

This is a very cynical piece of marketing by Aston to appear green.

No it isn't! You have in a round about way spotted the real reason for doing this: more profit.

Bez says it will open up a new market segment, and one out of which they expect to do well. He doesn't say anything about being green, because he knows that won't wash. Yes, it will help a little to lower average CO2 for the company, but mainly it's a make-more-money thing :D

Toyota has pretty much opened up a new market segment for a posh small car. You could say the Fiat 500 is there or there-abouts, maybe. Now Aston Martin are saying that they also think there is a market for posh small cars.

Companies want to stay in business, and might not be able to survive on just V8s and V12s in the future. Especially if this downturn lasts for five years or more.

Paul.

[Lloydy 25]

This is a very cynical piece of marketing by Aston to appear green.

No it isn't! You have in a round about way spotted the real reason for doing this: more profit.

Bez says it will open up a new market segment, and one out of which they expect to do well. He doesn't say anything about being green, because he knows that won't wash.

In the Sun on Friday, there is a small interview with Dr. Bez about the Cygnet in which he mentions eco or environment or emissions 12 times in just the few sentences that make up the interview..

[zakelwe]

Cygnet =? Ugly duck into swan I guess.

Not a bad effort though, almost as good looking as my Aygo after all those mods. :P

hee hee.

Regards

Andy

[steveybaby]

Hello,

this car appeared at roughly the same time I put my deposit down on the IQ2 so I did a bit of research 'cos I adore Astons.

Aston will be looking to sell them to existing AM owners for £20K, they will then consider opening the car up to the general public and even to existing IQ owners - drive in with an IQ and drive out with a Cygnet and a big bill.

There was talk that the EU will be imposing a tax on car manufacturers based on the o2 emission of their range - bearing in mind the cygnet being based on the 99gm/Km engine. Now a cynical person may say that AM are doing this to drasticaly reduce the emssion levels of their range and thus their tax but AM have denied this.

It has upset some AM owners but I think that they have short memories, remember tickford anybody? They did a fabulous job of "Aston Martin-ising almost any vehicle" - even a capri but they were always a division of AM but in fairness, they never claimed to be AM or sold their cars badged as Astons.

Probably

[Miles = Smiles]

Hello,

this car appeared at roughly the same time I put my deposit down on the IQ2 so I did a bit of research 'cos I adore Astons.

Aston will be looking to sell them to existing AM owners for £20K, they will then consider opening the car up to the general public and even to existing IQ owners - drive in with an IQ and drive out with a Cygnet and a big bill.

There was talk that the EU will be imposing a tax on car manufacturers based on the o2 emission of their range - bearing in mind the cygnet being based on the 99gm/Km engine. Now a cynical person may say that AM are doing this to drasticaly reduce the emssion levels of their range and thus their tax but AM have denied this.

It has upset some AM owners but I think that they have short memories, remember tickford anybody? They did a fabulous job of "Aston Martin-ising almost any vehicle" - even a capri but they were always a division of AM but in fairness, they never claimed to be AM or sold their cars badged as Astons.

Probably

There was a similar discussion when AML launched the DB7 back in '94....that it wasn't a real Aston, etc. In fact, it effectively saved the company, and in it's evolved forms, became their best seller. Who knows where the Cygnet might lead the company, but it certainly sits in an area of the City Car market that isn't catered for at present. The bigger picture is that it could offer a tie-up with the massive development resource of Toyota, which, for a low-volume manufacturer (AML) is currently a huge cost headache if they want to pursue the latest technology, and keep churning out 'world class GT cars'!

[turniphead]

Hello,

this car appeared at roughly the same time I put my deposit down on the IQ2 so I did a bit of research 'cos I adore Astons.

Aston will be looking to sell them to existing AM owners for £20K, they will then consider opening the car up to the general public and even to existing IQ owners - drive in with an IQ and drive out with a Cygnet and a big bill.

There was talk that the EU will be imposing a tax on car manufacturers based on the o2 emission of their range - bearing in mind the cygnet being based on the 99gm/Km engine. Now a cynical person may say that AM are doing this to drasticaly reduce the emssion levels of their range and thus their tax but AM have denied this.

It has upset some AM owners but I think that they have short memories, remember tickford anybody? They did a fabulous job of "Aston Martin-ising almost any vehicle" - even a capri but they were always a division of AM but in fairness, they never claimed to be AM or sold their cars badged as Astons.

Probably

There was a similar discussion when AML launched the DB7 back in '94....that it wasn't a real Aston, etc. In fact, it effectively saved the company, and in it's evolved forms, became their best seller. Who knows where the Cygnet might lead the company, but it certainly sits in an area of the City Car market that isn't catered for at present. The bigger picture is that it could offer a tie-up with the massive development resource of Toyota, which, for a low-volume manufacturer (AML) is currently a huge cost headache if they want to pursue the latest technology, and keep churning out 'world class GT cars'!

Indeed.

We've had Fiats badged as Ferarris and Volkswagens badged as Porsches, so why not? :D

[steveybaby]

I was lucky enough to get on a factory visit at AM when they had two factories - the engines were wheeled on trolleys across an A road to the other factory where they were put in to cars - how British!

Whilst there, I asked the guide about the DB7, AM didn't consider it an Aston as it was largely Ford based and not wholly built by AM. He showed us pe-pressed body panels that came in from Ford and AM merely trimmed and fitted them.

Whilst I was there, the news came through that the contract to build and upholster the soft tops for the DB7 had been awarded to AM again. The contract could have gone anywhere and the impression I got was that this was far from unusual for the DB7 - another reason why it was disliked at Newport Pagnall.

The finished item was of course exceptional.

Thanks for reading.

[Miles = Smiles]

Hello,

this car appeared at roughly the same time I put my deposit down on the IQ2 so I did a bit of research 'cos I adore Astons.

Aston will be looking to sell them to existing AM owners for £20K, they will then consider opening the car up to the general public and even to existing IQ owners - drive in with an IQ and drive out with a Cygnet and a big bill.

There was talk that the EU will be imposing a tax on car manufacturers based on the o2 emission of their range - bearing in mind the cygnet being based on the 99gm/Km engine. Now a cynical person may say that AM are doing this to drasticaly reduce the emssion levels of their range and thus their tax but AM have denied this.

It has upset some AM owners but I think that they have short memories, remember tickford anybody? They did a fabulous job of "Aston Martin-ising almost any vehicle" - even a capri but they were always a division of AM but in fairness, they never claimed to be AM or sold their cars badged as Astons.

Probably

There was a similar discussion when AML launched the DB7 back in '94....that it wasn't a real Aston, etc. In fact, it effectively saved the company, and in it's evolved forms, became their best seller. Who knows where the Cygnet might lead the company, but it certainly sits in an area of the City Car market that isn't catered for at present. The bigger picture is that it could offer a tie-up with the massive development resource of Toyota, which, for a low-volume manufacturer (AML) is currently a huge cost headache if they want to pursue the latest technology, and keep churning out 'world class GT cars'!

Indeed.

We've had Fiats badged as Ferarris and Volkswagens badged as Porsches, so why not? :D

Yes - 'subtle' marketing can sell any old tat! Remember domestic VCRs?

The Phillips V2000 system was almost broadcast quality, Betamax was pretty good, but VHS (probably the worst of the lot) won the day...

[tdv]

Hi All,

I actually spoke to AM CEO Bez while in Frankfurt for the show, and inquired about the AM-IQ. His reply, it will be unveiled at Geneva show in 2010 (I will be there, so if true, will get more details then), but price will be closer to £30K. The only real external modification is the front, as the rest was not feasible to change without huge cost, also the mechanicals will remain, as it's all about a dedicated city-car, where performance is not an issue (according to him). So the interior will be completely redone (it needs it, the plastics are just too poor in my taste, this is what i really don't like about mine) in AM style.

Only on offer to existing AM owners at launch, and then they will see. Interestingly AM have received many reactions from owners about the IQ, quite some were from angry AM owners, threatening to sell their cars if they launch this, but the majority were positive. Many AM owners are apparently concerned about their image in these challenging times, so could it be just the right car at the right time?

Interesting remark: the deal of this AM IQ was done in the paddock of some F1 race, where Bez happened to bump into the Toyota CEO.

[Ruud-from-Holland]

The things they're changing are the front, the rear light (with leds) and the interior. A different steering wheel cover with AM logo, different clocks, but still the same (*****ty) radio.

You might expect also new plastic, because they double the price.

[S2Sosmart]

Spoke to a gent who's on the project yesterday (Whilst dropping off an eBay sale lol). He was saying that they've got to keep the aero and emissions the same as the IQ to avoid massive euro reg bills so while the designers keep coming up with some fantastic looking mock ups the aero will be the external deciding factor. As for the interior then yes, it probably will be back to the metal and start again.

As for 'aftermarketing' bits maybe they'd do a la Brabus and the way they did with Smarts after a while ;) just as long as it isn't s**t quality at huge prices could be a nice little sideline for 'em

[marcandsebe]

http://www.autocar.co.uk/News/NewsArticle/AllCars/241124/

Great news for the iQ - if a company like Aston wants to do this, the little cars place in history looks very bright!

"Aston Martin has struck a ground-breaking deal with Toyota to launch a £20,000 version of the Japanese-built iQ commuter car, badged Aston Martin Cygnet and built at Aston’s Gaydon works in Warwickshire."

£40,000 for the first 100 black (50) and white (50) Cygnets, £32,000 thereafter.