Aston Martin announces £20,000 city 'mini for 2010

29/06/09

Luxury car maker plans an upmarket baby car - based on Toyota's iQ micro-hatchbackThis is the Cygnet, a new mini-sized Aston Martin, based on Toyota’s iQ city car. For now, Aston Martin says this is just a ‘concept’ car. But the company has struck a deal with Toyota under which it intends to build a version of the car at its factory in Gaydon, Warwickshire.

If the plan gs ahead, the car will sell for £20,000 – almost twice as much as an iQ - and begin sale next year. The Cygnet will use the iQ’s chassis and also its 1.3-litre engine but will also be kitted out with the kind of luxury cabin you’d expect an Aston to have, although it would retain Toyota’s cabin design and some of its instruments.

Initially, Aston is to sell the car only to existing Aston Martin owners and those who have cars on order. But it is expected that sales will expand to the wider public.