#AstonMartinCygnet

The Aston Martin brand is known for its high-dollar sports cars but will its lineup ever become more diverse?

These days its too easy to find a car that looks good, drives well and makes you feel like you’ve spent your money in the right way. But it hasn’t always been that way. There’s a number of cars out there that are just embarrassing.

Aston Martin’s luxury city car based on the  Toyota iQ, the Cygnet, is ending its production run that began in 2011. 

Lotus and its parent company, Proton, will be releasing their City Car to rival the new Aston Martin Cygnet and will be a production version of the Ethos concept originally seen at the Paris Auto Show. The vehicle will first be offered as a Proton, with the Lotus version coming at a later date with a higher price tag.

“I’m not satisfied with Cygnet sales,” declared Aston Martin‘s Chairman Dr. Ulrich Bez recently, though it’s not for the usual reasons. Rather than lack of demand, Aston’s main problem with the pint-size city car is actually lack of supply.

A pair of Aston Martin Cygnet subcompacts will be testing their worth at this weekend’s Bridgestone Eco-Rally. The two Cygnets will be making the drive through the extended route of the Eco-Rally, going from Exeter College, Oxford to The Mall, London taking advantage of a 56.5-mpg rating along the way.

This Toyota iQ based super-mini is the most controversial product ever offered by Aston Martin, and many believe the project will only harm Aston’s credibility than improve its greenhouse footprint.

In an effort to reach out to what it sees as ‘new customers in urban areas,’ Aston Martin has joined forces with fashion authority colette to produce a very limited edition city car.

The Aston Martin Cygnet might seem like anathema to everything the company stands for, but Aston Martin is hoping that the Cygnet will become the number two seller for the brand.

In their ongoing quest to assuage the guilt of the fabulously wealthy, Aston Martin will be electrifying their ugly-duckling née-Toyota Cygnet—in case wealthy city-living socialites still think Cameron Diaz has a thing for environmentally caring men.

The Aston Martin Cygnet, the British luxury brand’s take on the Toyota iQ, is almost ready to go on sale, and the ultra-lux city car will start £30,995, or about $50,000 USD.

Aston Martin‘s Cygnet minicar will come to the United States sometime in 2012 according to Automotive News. The Cygnet will reportedly cost $35,000 despite minimal changes from the Toyota iQ it’s based on.