What would you count on from a correct metropolis automotive? Most likely the reply to that query is one thing sensible, dependable, agile, compact on the surface and spacious on the within, low-cost to run and so. Absolutely, you wouldn’t assume “V8!!”, now would you? Nicely, the madmen of Aston Martin’s Q-division did assume “V8!!” again in 2018 and created the moderately wild Aston Martin Cygnet V8! This super-compact was primarily based on an everyday Cygnet, which was in flip primarily based on a Toyota iQ. Though just one Cygnet V8 was constructed, you had the possibility to snag it up over at Aston Martin specialist Nicholas Mee & Co. Very briefly although, because it was for a couple of week and a half or so! Regardless, it’s value testing merely for its sheer insanity!
Slightly over a decade in the past, the ever-tightening laws on car emissions and air pollution challenged fairly just a few low-volume automotive producers. Whereas some corporations like Ferrari and Lamborghini may fall again on the mixed common emissions of all produced autos of the mutlti-brand group they’re a part of, others couldn’t. Others like Aston Martin, who on the time didn’t have the fortune to consider low-emission autos from sister-brands and such, needed to discover one other approach to adjust to these restrictions. And what Aston Martin considered to offset its vary of high-powered V8 and V12 sports activities and supercars was one thing moderately shocking (and admittedly a contact daft) named the Cygnet!
Again in 2012, emissions laws pressured many carmakers to leap by means of all types of hoops, and then-Aston Martin chairman Ulrich Bez introduced that the Cygnet can be the reply to the conundrum the fabled British producer was dealing with. It was primarily based on the tiny Toyota iQ, which was about 3 meters lengthy, 1.70 meters large and stood 1.50 meters tall. This meant the iQ had a moderately small footprint because it was not a lot larger than the original Mini! In Japan, it additionally met the fabled Kei Automobile necessities. It was placed on the street in Japan and Europe in 2008, with North America following in 2012 (because the Scion iQ). Manufacturing ceased in 2016, and in that brief window, about 100,000 have been bought as a Toyota and an additional 15,700 as a Scion.
However what concerning the Cygnet? Nicely, Ulrich Bez introduced plans to rebadge and mildew the tiny iQ into the Cygnet, full with Aston Martin signature grill design, and promote as much as 4,000 of them per 12 months. It was launched in 2011, however gross sales figures have been so unhealthy that the automotive was taken off the market in 2014, after lower than 600 of them have been delivered to shoppers. So, it wasn’t the saving grace Aston Martin wanted, however let’s not dwell on the how’s and why’s for too lengthy.
On to the Cygnet V8, one of many wildest compact vehicles I’ve ever come throughout! The challenge is constructed by Aston Martin’s Q-branch, which is mainly their skunkworks division, the place all types of inventive and bespoke issues are cooked up. And sure, it’s very possible the Q-designation comes from the James Bond franchise, with the titular spy repeatedly wheeling an Aston Martin throughout the massive display screen! It was really commissioned by a consumer who needed so as to add only a bit extra energy to the Cygnet. And I do imply that sarcastically, because the iQ and Cygnet shared a drivetrain that delivered a measely 98bhp, lower than 1 / 4 of the facility it now makes! I’m positive the duty at hand left just a few AM engineers scratching their heads, however they discovered a approach to ship what the consumer needed regardless.
How? By one way or the other shoe-horning a 430bhp 4.7 litre V8 engine and 7-speed paddle-shift gearbox from a Vantage V8 S into the little Cygnet! And in case you take a look at the photographs, the engine appears to take up half the automotive because it’s a particularly tight match! To accommodate this monstrous (for the small Cygnet/iQ platform, not less than) new engine, the chassis was extensively modified and strengthened. Oh, and it obtained some much-needed stopping energy, with a set of brakes additionally donated by a V8 Vantage S.
The precise-hand drive base automotive additionally obtained a full roll cage for additional energy and rigidity. Additional modifications embrace Recaro racing seats and a four-point harness, a particular gas tank within the rear, carbon fibre dashboard and inside panels, a detachable Alcantara-wrapped steering wheel and new controls and devices.
On the surface, it obtained extra air intakes, a set of very large wheel arches, a reworked rear part, and a bespoke exhaust system. The results of all this nipping and tucking is a automotive that weighs simply 1,375 kg (together with liquids) and has a power-to-weight ratio of 313bhp per tonne! To place that into perspective, a 2025 Porsche 911 Carrera S solely achieves a 262bhp per tonne ratio. It even comes fairly near the 354bhp per tonne ratio of the 2025 Porsche 911 GT3! Did I say this automotive was mad already? The well-known nought to 100kmh takes the super-Cygnet simply 4.2 seconds, and it has a quoted prime velocity of just about 275 kph. Yikes!
The automotive made its debut on the 2018 Goodwood Festival of Speed, and it has solely clocked 2,893 miles or 4,655 kilometers. The Buckinghamshire Inexperienced Cygnet V8 was put up on the market by the unique proprietor by means of Nicholas Mee & Co, a famend Aston Martin specialist in Hatfield, UK. Nevertheless it wasn’t lengthy till somebody snatched it up, as Nicholas Mee & Co confirmed it has now been bought for an undisclosed sum.
For extra data, please go to NicholasMee.co.uk.
Editorial Observe: The pictures portrayed and knowledge sourced for this text are offered by and used with permission of Nicholas Mee & Co except acknowledged in any other case.
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