What's the news?
In a moment of summer madness, Aston Martin has unveiled a one-off example of its almost-forgotten Cygnet city car, but this one ditches the languorous Toyota 1.3-litre engine and replaces it with an Aston Martin V8. You read that right. It's a one-off creation and, somewhat surprisingly, not just for grabbing attention at this weekend's Goodwood Festival of Speed over in England, as it was commissioned by a customer through the 'Q by Aston Martin - Commission' personalisation service and is fully road-legal.
Exterior
Aston didn't drastically alter the face of the Toyota iQ-based Cygnet, save for a new black mesh grille, but there's no escaping the bulging wheelarches. They're made from carbon composite and make room for 19-inch diamond-turned, five-spoke alloy wheels, wearing 275/35 Bridgestone tyres. Behind those are massive brake discs, grabbed by bright yellow mono-block callipers. The paint is a relatively subtle Buckingham green. Nothing subtle about the rear view, though, where the 9.5-inch wide rear tyres are complemented by a bespoke twin central exhaust system.
Interior
Someone clearly expects to go very fast in this Cygnet, so the interior has been kitted out to cope. There's a welded-in roll cage, an FIA-compliant fire extinguisher system and a pair of fixed-back Recaro bucket seats with four-point harnesses. Ahead of the driver is a removable steering wheel trimmed in Alcantara and instruments from the previous generation Aston Vantage set into a bespoke carbon dash. Carbon is used on the doors too, though it has a few luxuries, in the shape of USB ports and air conditioning.
Mechanicals
It's all about the engine, as you'd expect. This Cygnet, somehow, accommodates the naturally aspirated 4.7-litre V8 from the Aston V8 Vantage S, making 436hp and 490Nm of torque. That's sent via the Vantage's seven-speed 'Sportshift II' transmission to the Cygnet's quivering rear wheels. The Cygnet manages to beat its donor off the line with a 0-100km/h time of under 4.5 seconds and it can apparently hit over 270km/h.
Anything else?
Although many laughed at the idea of the Cygnet originally, and a good deal fewer than 1,000 were produced, it appears that prices are on the rise already, indicating that it could be a surprising collector's prize of the future. None will be as expensive as this V8 version, of course, as it will be the only one.