Car Throttle

Auto manufacturers are increasingly entering smaller and smaller segments as governmental regulations demand an increase in fuel efficiency and reductions in emissions. For luxury performance and exotic manufacturers under a large corporate umbrella, other brands in the portfolio are able to produce smaller models. Aston Martin is a standalone brand owned by a joint venture company headed by David Richards and co-owned by by equity companies, Investment Dar, Adeem Investment and English businessman John Sinders. As such, it doesn't have the ability to do that - for now it has to be introduced under the Aston Martin brand name. The Cygnet is a lightly-modified Toyota iQ with Aston Martin cues. This enabled the car to be introduced cheaply and quickly. Since news of

Aston Martin recently gave the green light to the much-derided Cygnet minicar. The car was developed in cooperation with Toyota, as it is heavily based on the iQ. Interestingly, Aston keeps saying four people will fit in there. Good luck to the two lucky (not) passengers in back. This new video aims to explain the car. It shows the unique build process the car goes through and how that helps make it a "real" Aston Martin. We'll let you be the judge of that. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgTMxEujwU0&feature=player_embedded#! Lexus Driving Simulator Commercial Lexus isn't exactly best known for its "wow" factor. More like refined and sedate - with a few exceptions of course. There is the new LF-A, and on a more down to earth level, the IS and accompanying F performance models. However, Lexus

Over the course of time, luxury manufacturers have been on a relentless drive to make their vehicles more accessible. Models at manufacturers like Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz have proliferated up and down the spectrum. Today's global luxury market is in the millions of units. Many have often equated size with luxury - as in, the bigger the better. What is different than size though is compromising brand values - and many have decided Aston Martin has done so with the Cygnet minicar. Regardless, it is a go for production. It is unclear what the exact motivation is behind the car - most likely governmental fuel economy regulations. Selling a few hundred of these a year with high MPG numbers should help things out significantly. There is also likely

Earlier this month, Aston Martin released official details on the Toyota iQ-based Cygnet minicar. The car has been met with howls of dissaproval from Aston Martin purists, and has left many scratching their heads. Regardless, Aston Martin is announcing some measures that should quell some of the worries that people had about the car. First of all, there is one very big barrier for entry: you must already be an Aston Martin owner. That means buyers of the Cygnet will be an exclusive club. That is an important thing, being the Cygnet's relatively small $35,000 asking price could ensure that a new vehicle with the Aston Martin name on it isn't far out of reach for quite a few people. Offering the car to just anyone would destroy the

When word of the Aston Martin Cygnet broke last week, not much information was available about the minicar (supermini?). Now, days later there isn't a whole lot more to pore over. One more actual image of the car has came out, and AutoExpress has had some renderings done that give us a better idea of what to expect stylistically. There also have been some comments made by Aston Martin's CEO Dr Ulrich Bez. For one thing, we now know that the car's underlying Toyota mechanicals will not change. 1.0-litre Aston Martin-badged minicar - did you ever think you'd see that day? Here are the comments made by the CEO: “Until now, small cars offered a message that people are buying something cheap,” he said. “The Cygnet will show