Aston Martin Launches Cygnet with Two Special Editions, Priced from $49,600 / €36,700

To celebrate the start of production of its new Toyota iQ-based Cygnet city car, Aston Martin has announced two special launch edition models called White and Black.

Set to go on sale in April, both are offered with the iQ's 1.33-liter four-cylinder gasoline engine producing 98HP, matched to either standard 6-speed manual gearbox or optional CVT automated transmission, and each will be produced for a strictly limited run.

The British automaker says the Cygnet with the manual gearbox completes the 0-62mph (100km/h) sprint in 11.6 seconds while returning an estimated combined fuel economy of 56.5 mpg UK, equal to 47 mpg US and 5.0 lt/100km.

The White edition is finished in Snow White paint with a mix of silver mesh, chrome brightwork and White Diamond turned alloy wheels. Inside, it features seats hand trimmed in Pearl white leather with perforated Alcantara inserts, complemented by satin chrome.

The opposite Black edition of the Cygnet comes with a Magic Black metallic paint with a specially developed deep sea green effect, offset by matt black louvers and chrome brightwork. The seats and dash are clad in pure black full grain leather, perforated in a specially-developed diamond pattern, while dark chrome accents adorn the cabin.

Both launch edition come with a bespoke and tailored made Bill Amberg five-piece luggage set in a combination of black leather with technical fabric, comprised of a glove box bag, removable door pocket bag, holdall, garment bag and a collapsible tote bag.

The new Cygnet goes on sale now through Aston Martin’s European dealership network, with the company stating that it is "actively working on expanding market availability by 2012".

Prices for Aston Martin's new entry-level model start from £30,995 (equal to US$49,600 and €36,700 at current exchange rates), or some £19,000 ($30,800 / €22,500) more than Toyota's iQ 1.33.

Launch Edition Black includes:

• Magic Black paint finish
• Twin Matt Satin Stripes
• 16" 16 – spoke diamond turned alloy wheels with black finish
• Chromed exterior mirror caps
• Pure Black leather
• Diamond shaped perforated leather inserts
• Dark chrome finishes
• Black Wings

Launch Edition White includes:

• Snow White paint finish
• Twin Matt Satin Stripes
• 16" 16 – spoke diamond turned alloy wheels with white finish
• Chromed exterior mirror caps
• Pearl White leather
• Rectangular shaped perforated Alcantara inserts with silver backing
• Satin Chrome finishes
• White Wings

Both Launch Edition Black and Launch Edition White include:

• Bespoke 5 piece luggage set, designed exclusively for Cygnet by Bill Amberg. The set comprises: a uniquely designed glove box bag, a removable door pocket bag, a holdall, a garment bag and a collapsible tote bag–each piece carefully hand crafted in black leather with technical fabric highlights
• Bespoke Launch Edition sill plaques
• Badging of a Cygnet head to identify the special nature of these cars
• Garage Door Opener
• First Aid Kit

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VIDEO: Aston Martin Execs Try to Convince Everyone the Cygnet is not a Toyota...

Now that the Aston Martin Cygnet has officially received the green light (previous post here), the brand of James Bond has put together again CEO Dr. Ulrich Bez and design director Marek Reichman for the Cygnet PR video below.

The 4-passenger Cygnet, based on Toyota's iQ city car, is meant to provide Aston Martin owners something more practical for daily use within cities and still offer said owners the level of exclusivity they desire. That means it can be ordered with all the same interior and exterior colors, leathers, and materials found on any other Aston.

While based on a Toyota, the Cygnet will officially be manufactured as its own standalone model - a coach-built compact, if you will - in Warwickshire, England. An official announcement has not been made regarding the power train, but it will likely get the iQ's standard 3-cylinder (possibly with a sport intake/exhaust setup).

By Phil Alex

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Toyota iQ Disco Concept to Glamour Rock German Showrooms

Say 'hallo' to Toyota's bling-bling shiny iQ Disco, a concept model that was created by the firm's German division purely for demonstration purposes as the oversized Japanese disco ball on wheels will tour dealerships all over the country, starting from showrooms in Cologne.

The tiny Toyota model, which will be sold to Americans under the Scion brand and to super rich buyers under the Aston Martin brand as the Cygnet, has been wrapped in a disco-ball-like sparkling foil and features 18-inch alloy wheels and scissor doors.

The transformation wouldn't be complete without a professional DJ system that consists of 15-inch bass reflex subwoofer, a two-channel mixer and two Numark NDX 800 players. Toyota said the system can play various music formats and delivers up to 1000 watts and a peak sound pressure of 130 dB.

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2011 Toyota iQ with Euro5 Engines Available for Order in the UK

Starting from today, Toyota UK is accepting orders for its modestly updated iQ mini, which will make its debut at this week's Paris Motor Show. Priced from £10,158 on the road, the 2011 model year iQ benefits from some barely noticeable changes inside and an engine lineup that has been revised to meet Euro 5 emissions standards.

Along with the introduction of a new gray interior with contrasting black upper trims on the doors and toning fabric upholstery or optionally with Kuru black leather upholstery, the iQ's cabin also gets new soft-touch materials on the dashboard and the door panels.

Other updates include the "manta ray" motif panels on the door and center console that adopt a new black finish and a new scarlet surround on the center console.

For 2011, the 1.0-liter VVT-i and 1.33-liter Dual VVT-i petrol engines have been revised to meet Euro 5 emissions standards, with Toyota claiming the changes had no impact on performance or fuel efficiency. As such, the 1.0-litre (manual) model delivers 99g/km and 64.2mpg UK on the combined cycle and the 1.33-liter (manual) with Stop & Start returns 113g/km and 57.6mpg UK.

Top 10 Greenest and Dirtiest Cars of 2010

The headline grabber: Italy's Lamborghini Murcielago has been named and shamed as the most polluting car of the nation by the UK's Environmental Transport Association (ETA), being five times as worse than the greenest automobile of 2010, Japan's 99g/km Toyota iQ.

"With emissions five times worse than the greenest car, the Lamborghini is the bull in an environmental china shop," said Andrew Davis, director of the ETA. "Thankfully, there are very few on the roads and there is an increasing choice of environmentally-sound cars."

The group said it examined over 5,000 cars sold in the UK ranking them for their power, emissions, fuel efficiency and the amount of noise they produce. ETA also said that a poll of 1,500 British drivers found that Scots were most inclined (42%) to buy a smaller car in order to reduce their motoring costs, while drivers living in the north of England were the least inclined (34%).

The untold story: As with most reports of the sort, ETA and Mr. Davis forget to stress the fact that super cars like the Lamborghini Murcielago and the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti, which top both CO2 and fuel cost lists, are not only extremely rare, but also won't ever be used as near as much as a Toyota iQ or the Honda Insight.

This means that their actual total emissions (we won't even bother with fuel costs) are pretty much inconsequential. A quick search on UK's (since the study was for Britain) eBay can provide proof for this.

Source: Environmental Transport Association

ETA's GREEN CAR AWARDS 2010

Category	Best	Worst
Green Car of the Year 2010	Toyota iQ	Lamborghini Murcielago
Greenest small family car	Honda Insight 1.3	VW Golf 3.2 V6
Greenest large family car	BMW 320d Touring	Vauxhall Insignia VXR V6 Turbo
Greenest Supermini	Toyota Yaris 1.4 D-4D	Renault Clio Sport 200
Greenest city car	Toyota iQ	Ford Ka 1.6 Sportka
Greenest sports car	Vauxhall Tigra	Lamborghini Murcielago
Greenest MPV	Peugeot Bipper Tepee	Mercedes R63
Greenest small MPV	Renault Modus 1.5dci	Vauxhall Zafira VXR 2.0i Turbo
Greenest off-road car	BMW X1 E84	Mercedes ML63
Greenest luxury car	BMW 740d	Bentley Brooklands

TOP 10 MOST POLLUTING CARS

1. Lamborgini Murcielago
2. Ferrari 612 Scaglietti
3. Bentley Motors Brooklands
4. Bentley Motors Arnage
5. bentley Motors Azure
6. Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano
7. Bentley Motors Continental
8. Aston Martin V12 Vantage
9. Cadillac Escalade
10. Rolls Royce Phantom

TOP 10 LEAST POLLUTING CARS

1. Toyota iQ
2. Honda Insight
3. Volkswagen New Polo
4. Toyota Yaris
5. Toyota Prius
6. Nissan Pixo
7. Suzuki Alto
8. Honda Civic Hybrid
9. Ford Fiesta
10. Mazda 2

TOP 10 CARS WITH HIGHEST FUEL COSTS

1. Lamborghini Murcielago
2. Ferrari 612 Scaglietti
3. Bentley Motors Brooklands
4. Bentley Motors Arnage
5. Bentley Motors Azure
6. Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano
7. Bentley Motors Continental
8. Aston Martin V12 Vantage
9. Cadillac Escalade
10. Ferrari 430 Scuderia

TOP 10 CARS WITH LOWEST FUEL COSTS

1. Smart Fortwo
2. Volkswagen New Polo
3. Ford Fiesta
4. Vaixhall Corsa
5. Seat Ibiza
6. Peugeot 207
7. Volvo C30
8. Volkswagen Polo
9. Citroen New C3
10. Toyota Prius

Toyota Announces Details on Recalled European Models, Says up to 1.8 Million Vehicles May Be Affected by Sticky Accelerator

Less than 24 hours after Toyota Motor Europe announced that it would be investigating potential accelerator pedal issues on its European models, the Japanese automaker released details on the affected vehicles. The recall involves a total of eight models. These are listed below:

-AYGO (Feb 2005 – Aug 2009)
-iQ (Nov 2008 – Nov 2009)
-Yaris (Nov 2005 – Sep 2009)
-Auris (Oct 2006 – 5 Jan 2010)
-Corolla (Oct 2006 – Dec 2009)
-Verso (Feb 2009 – 5 Jan 2010)
-Avensis (Nov 2008 – Dec 2009)
-RAV4 (Nov 2005 – Nov 2009)

The company said that precise number of involved units is still under investigation, but may reach up to a total of 1.8 million vehicles in the Old Continent, adding that no Lexus or other Toyota models are affected by the recall to solve a potential accelerator pedal issue.

"Toyota's policy is to put its customers first, in all circumstances", said Tadashi Arashima, President and CEO of Toyota Motor Europe.

"We understand that the current situation is creating concerns, and we deeply regret it. We would also like to reassure customers: the potential accelerator pedal issue only occurs in very rare circumstances. The announced action is a preventive measure aimed to guarantee the highest safety standards to all customers."

According to Toyota, there is a chance that certain accelerator pedal mechanisms on the affected models may, in rare instances, mechanically stick in a partially depressed position or return slowly to the idle position

Toyota said that the issue is caused because the accelerator pedal mechanisms concerned may become worn.

The Japanese automaker added that only a limited number of incidents have been reported in Europe, and that the company is not aware of any accident resulting from this issue.

Earlier this week, Toyota suspended sales of eight vehicles in the U.S. due to the sticky accelerator problem while the firm also added another 1.1 million vehicles to last fall's recall of 4.3 million vehicles in the USA.

Tokyo '09: Toyota to Show FT-EV II Battery-Powered Concept Based on the iQ

While the FT-86 RWD Coupe will be the superstar at Toyota's Tokyo Motor Show stand, the Japanese firm will also showcase the FT-EV II, a battery-powered micro car that is more radical than the first-version of the concept model that broke cover at this year's Detroit Show in January. The FT-EV II, which stands for "Future Toyota Electric Vehicle II", is powered by an electric motor that draws energy from a lithium-ion battery which provides a driving range in excess of 90km (60 miles).

The Japanese automaker claims that the FT-EV II can reach a top speed of a little over 100km/h or 62mph.

Like the FT-EV I, the second generation concept is based on Toyota's iQ mini car. But even though it's shorter measuring only 2,730 mm (107-in.) from nose to tail, the company says that it can seat up to four people - just don't expect any wonders for the rear tunas passengers.

Other highlights of the FT-EV II include the twin sliding doors and the absence of steering wheel or foot pedals as the urban model is controlled by a joystick - welcome to the automotive world of gamers...