Cygnet City Car
Cygnet City Car

Cygnet City Car

Cygnet City Car

The pictures that appeared on the internet in late June 2009 were somewhat confusing. The full sized clay model did look like a convincing Aston city car but surly this was one of those many internet spoofs or wanabee AM designs that crop up with regularity. But it did look convincing, like someone with skill had gone to real effort to take all the Aston styling cues and make them work on a small city car. Yet this was no joke, it did appear to be a real factory effort, a sensible pint sized urban car but with the allure of an Aston. The Cygnet had broken cover and all hell broke loose.

The AMOC web forum went ballistic, post after post, page after page – no thread progressed and grew like this. The idea of an Aston just for the city, dare I say, a sensible Aston, exclusively suited to the cut and thrust of the urban environment had challenged many members and owners. Was AML selling out or adapting to the future demands of the market place, legislation and the environment? Was 95 years of performance centred motoring being dumped for a fast buck? The downturn that began with the ‘Credit Crunch’ in 2008 damaged sales of high end motor cars greatly and no manufacturer in the sector was immune; AML was quick off the mark with the Cygnet, perhaps it could fill the gap in demand until people desired and could afford sportscars in greater numbers again. Everyone had an opinion and they have all been expressed most strongly but development of the project continued  at Gaydon regardless. It has to be said that the Cygnet is not a totally brand new fresh design but is strongly based on the Toyota iQ, an ultra-compact city car of similar proportions to the Smart ForTwo.

First view of the finished Cygnet concept was at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show where the single car drew much attention. By October 2010, the factory announced that production would indeed go ahead at the Gaydon factory beginning in late 2010. The production version was subsequently unveiled at the 2011 Geneva Motor show with production cars available for customers in the UK and Europe simultaneously. New Cygnet owners were buzzing around the city by late Spring 2011. Customers outside of Europe were able to buy the Cygnet sometime later that year, although plans to market in the US were dropped..

The buzz created by the Cygnet won’t be dying down any time soon.