Aston swans off with its £30k Cygnet 21 | 01 | 2011

IF YOU'VE got slightly more money than sense, you'll be interested to know Aston Martin is to launch its long-awaited — and frighteningly expensive — Cygnet city car with this pair of special editions, called (surprise, surprise) White and Black.

A reworked version of Toyota’s iQ, no less, the new model carries matt stripes and chrome brightwork on the white version, and matt black louvres on the black car. A manual gearbox is standard on the car — Aston has still to confirm the powerplant, but it's expected to be the iQ’s more potent unit, a 1.33 petrol — though a CVT system will also be available ... at an extra charge, of course.

What, of course, will set the Cygnet apart from the iQ (apart from the sky high price) is its interior where there's lots of leather and plenty of visible stitching, particularly around the heavily revised centre console. The roof lining is completed in Alcantara, too. Aston describes the vehicle as ‘Handcrafted in England’ on the door sill plates, which is unlikely to go down too well in Scotland!

Just for good measure, both the new models come with a bespoke Bill Amberg five-piece luggage set, but don't get your hopes up of receiving five healthily-sized cases, oh no. What you get is a glove box bag, removable door pocket bag, holdall, garment bag and collapsable tote bag.

Price for the Cygnet which, if you're interested, can be ordered now? Take a deep breath; around £30,000. Oh, and just so you're aware, you can buy an identically-sized Toyota iQ from £9995!

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Jim McGill