Aston Martin Cygnet – what’s going on?

The Aston Martin Cygnet - fresh from Aston's website

Aston Martin now appears to be targeting the Aston Martin Cygnet at young, trendy wannabees instead of as a City Car for existing AM owners.

Aston Martin first rolled the Aston Martin Cygnet in to view back in June last year. It seemed as if they were trying to judge just what flack they would get for considering producing an Aston-ised Toyota Aygo. Would the world throw its hands up in horror, or would they understand the rationale behind the move?

The truth is that Aston Martin got both reactions. For many the whole idea of Aston Martin producing a city car was bad enough, but to base it on a Japanese eco-box was unacceptable. But many more saw the logic. Just like every other car maker Aston Martin needs to reduce their average CO2 emissions (those pointless, barking mad CO2 targets again) and address the vociferous fluffy-bunny brigade who want anything that doesn’t resemble a milk float barred from our roads. The Aston Martin Cygnet would address these issues and bring in some revenue.

And the way Aston Martin presented the Cygnet made sense. It would be produced in very limited numbers for existing Aston Martin owners. Many AM owners live in cities, and breaking out the DBS to pop to the shops in the middle of London or Paris or Rome is not the best move. Much better to roll out the ‘Mini-Me’ Aston. We bought that. It made (some) sense. But it looks like the raison d’etre was a smoke screen. Certainly if you take a look at Aston Martin’s website today.

Front and centre on the site is an Aston Martin Cygnet Configurator (actually, it’s more of a desktop wallpaper generator). And judging by the rather funky options presented – from which you can download said desktop wallpaper – Aston Martin are most definitely not aiming the Cygnet at existing Aston Martin Owners. They seem to be aiming it at wannabee AM owners. A younger generation who can be conned in to thinking they’re buying an Aston for £30k. Or at least potential owners who think they can fool the world with a pretend Aston. This is wrong.

The original tenet we could just about swallow. The concept of trashing the Aston Martin brand by selling fake Aston Martins to anyone with £30k to waste on an tarted-up Aygo is a step too far. What’s next? The Aston Martin Duckling – an Aston-ised Previa for the Aston Martin owner with children? The Aston Martin Cuckoo – a Hilux pick-up for the construction company-owning DBS owner? Endless atrocious possibilities.

Stop it. Now.