An electric Aston Martin sounds awful. I mean that both figuratively and in a speculatively literal sort of way. Yes, Astons are gorgeous, but they also sound magnificent whether it's a V8 or V12 model. Even if an electric motor could duplicate the thrust, the only way to get the noise would be some fake Nissan Leaf noise-maker thingy. Lame.
Well, Georg Kacher at CAR magazine is reporting that Aston Martin will indeed be making an electric car, but that it will be an EV version of the Cygnet, and thus just an Aston Martinized version of the likely electric Toyota/Scion iQ. In other words, something that's already inherently awful. However, it would further the Cygnet's goal of reducing Aston's carbon footprint and corporate average fuel economy.
I nearly wrote "only goal" there, but then the Cygnet should also be a cash cow for Aston, which essentially buys iQ's from Toyota for less than £10,000, adds leather and sells them for more than £31,000. Add in a hefty EV premium and bam!, you've got whatever monetary mammal is greater than a cash cow. Cash buffalo? Cash whale? Yep, the Aston Martin EV Cygnet will be a cash whale.
To read about a tiny EV city car that's slower than a cash whale ...
csubowtie says:
11:53 AM, 05/16/11
Crazy as this sounds, I see the perfect maket niche for this car. Imagine you are retired and wealthy but not quite own your own airline rich. Day to day you cruise around in your Aston Vantage. But now you want to load up into your RV and crawl across the country seeing the sights. Obviously you wouldn't want to flat tow your Vantage behind the RV, but you wouldn't be caught dead driving a lowly Toyata. Of course you also need to offset all that carbon so you can buy next years Vantage when it hits the showrooms. Boom, Cygnet is the answer.
standingwave says:
12:16 PM, 05/16/11
Little Tikes stocks just plummeted….with the announcement of an electric Cygnet, their zero emission Red and yellow Cozy Coupe can no longer stay competitive in the segment it created over 30 years ago. The company is expected to announce bankruptcy later this summer.
altimadude05 says:
12:39 PM, 05/16/11
@ standingwave
That's a tragedy. I wanted to get one for my kids one day. The good news is Toys-R-Us still sells the Barbie Jeep, so I might be cross-shopping the two!
wrxmx5 says:
09:47 AM, 05/17/11
Nice tail lights. >_<