Well, this is the discussion that is being on from last three to four years. Earlier, people though that the small cars will become an important part of the future as more and more people will prefer having a car instead of a bike. Also, they had a strong perception in their mind that as more number of people will demand small cars; the car price will increase more than expectation. In this world, where supreme car brands such as BMW, Toyota, Honda and others are marking their supremacy, there are some car manufacturing brands that are more interested in bringing forth some new designs of small cars. For an instance, let us take an example of Cygnet, which is one of the world’s premier budget brands that is Toyota’s iQ dressed up to look like an Aston Martin. Aston Martin and Lexus are the two brands that shared a pit lane garage at Nurburgring 24-Hour race. During the occasion, Dr. Ulrich Bez, Aston CEO had a conversation with Akio Toyoda, Toyota CEO.
This conversation is considered to be the origination point for the Cygnet. During the communication, official explanation for Cygnet, was that, “it is an exclusive tender to a luxury yacht that represents a creative, environmentally conscious solution, being small, yet with presence — and highly fuel efficient, now combined with the prestige of Aston Martin’s luxury brand ownership.” In response to this, Dr. Bez said that the Cygnet is a “distinctive, intelligent and exclusive solution for urban travel in style and luxury that will allow us to apply Aston Martin design language, craftsmanship and brand values to a completely new segment of the market.”
Furthermore, the iQs were shipped by Toyota to Aston Martin’s factory that is based in Gaydon, England. The cars were fitted with CVT transmission and a 97-hp, 1.3-liter engine. Inside, hand-stitched leather was seen slathered on every single component including the veneers, instrument details, Emotion Control Unit key system and other minor, major specifications. The main idea of the origination of this car is that Aston computed that around 30% of car buyers have small cars such as the Mini, etc. The reason behind this is that such cars are really very convenient and considerable while going out for small trips. Once the car was released, it was sold around the world in different prices. The cost price of the Cygnet was around $36,000 to $43,000 in the U.S and around $17,200 in Germany.
Its production began in the 2011. And, Analysts have said that the cost price of the car was too much. This is why; the car sales dropped and lesser number of people preferred buying it. As per the wordings of an automotive analyst at research consultancy HIS, Ian Fletcher, “The Cygnet was intended to catapult the brand into a new market but at roughly double the price of many competing cars in that segment, it was misjudged by Aston Martin.”
Later in 2012, the company faced a loss of £24.6 M. Reportedly, it is expecting to double the car sales by 2016.
