Aston Martin's Cygnet concept city car has made its public debut at the Geneva show and is expected to be on sale by the end of this year.
However, the Toyota iQ-based city car will cost as much as £50,000 and, initially at least, sales will be restricted to buyers who already own an Aston Martin.
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The entry-level Cygnet will cost around £30,000, but the more expensive models are part of a long-term plan to build a full range of Cygnets, according to the company.
The first models will be powered by the stock 1.33-litre Toyota engine driving a manual 'box. The Multidrive automatic will be optional.
Aston sources say that while the engine and engineering will remain fundamentally unchanged, the company will be able to make big changes to the driving feel of the basic Toyota layout.
Internal estimates of annual Cygnet production range from 2000 to 4000 units per year, which is less than one per cent of the total European market for city cars.
Aston says that everything the customer sees and feels will be unique.
This means that the base iQ models will be substantially rebuilt at the company's Gaydon factory.
The exterior has been redesigned by Aston's styling team and features unique headlights and tail-lights, as well as all-new exterior skin panels.
The interior has also been complete reworked and retrimmed with new, more upmarket seats for the innovative 3+1 layout. Cygnet buyers will also be able to take advantage of a high degree of personalisation and customisation.
Company sources say the motivation behind the Cygnet project was a need among existing Aston owners for urban mobility because for inner-city travel, current Aston products are sometimes not the most appropriate solution.
Aston Martin boss Ulrich Bez described the Cygnet concept as a "bold new step towards a new form of transportation: the luxury commuter car".
Hilton Holloway
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