Last month, news emerged that production of the Aston Martin Cygnet has ceased, and now Aston Martin boss Ulrich Bez is telling us why the Toyota iQ-based curiosity was axed. Apparently, it’s because the little Toyota itself will be no more come next year.
“We stopped the Cygnet as Toyota itself will stop the iQ in 2014 and we don’t want to invest any more,” the 70-year-old German said. “We had a great start with Akio Toyoda, whom I still have a great relationship with. But Toyota didn’t follow up the support like it does with Tesla and its marketing of other products,” he added.
“I think Aston did a good thing with the Cygnet and I’m disappointed it didn’t work out. It’s a great little car, particularly in London. It will be a cult car in the future and will be well looked after.”
So is the the innovative sub-3m Toyota iQ, which is five years old now, heading for retirement with no successor in sight? In response to Bez’s remarks, Toyota says that there are no plans to end iQ production and declined to comment further. Want a collector’s item? Not sure if it’s still around, but a Cygnet was advertised on oto.my last year for RM350k.
The post Cygnet axed because iQ production ending – Bez appeared first on Paul Tan's Automotive News.
via Paul Tan's Automotive News http://paultan.org/2013/10/29/aston-cygnet-axed-because-iq-production-ending/
Mozilla's got a full plate between browsers, Firefox OS and a mess of other projects, but that hasn't stopped it from starting a new initiative. The software community has set up the experimental Mozilla Location Service to collect crowdsourced geolocation data from public WiFi networks and cellular ...
We were intrigued by the Phonebloks concept phone that teased the ability to switch out a handset's components the way most users change ringtones, and now Motorola is putting its resources behind it. Called Project Ara, the advanced Technology and Products group is working with Phonebloks creator ...
As good as Plex Sync may be at keeping media libraries in harmony, it's not very helpful to mobile Plex users who can't always store or stream large files on their devices. After today, they won't have to worry. The company has just launched a beta version of Cloud Sync, which saves ...
EA Sports' 15-year relationship with PGA Tour cover athlete Tiger Woods has ended. In a post on the company's blog, Vice President and General Manager of Golf Daryl Holt said that the split was a mutual decision and wished Woods continued success. While this isn't on the scale of, say, separating ...
It wouldn't be a limited edition Tokyoflash watch if it weren't hard to read, right? The company's latest timepiece, the Kisai Xtal, follows that time-honored (get it?) tradition with a design that goes heavy on the styling -- it's described as being "crystalline shaped" -- and an interface that's ...
Need proof that China is a crucial smartphone market? Strategy Analytics is more than happy to oblige. It just posted third quarter global market share estimates showing that Huawei has overtaken LG since the Q2 report, claiming third place with 5.1 percent of sales. This isn't the first time that ...
The Internet of Things (IoT) is finally here. Or at least, that's what a recent report by the Economist's Intelligence Unit wants us to believe. Sponsored by ARM, which certainly has a vested interest in the matter, the 32-page paper states that the industry is at last catching on to the idea of ...
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on ...
This week it's the NBA's turn to kick off its regular season, with high profile matchups like Bulls vs. Heat and Clippers vs. Lakers on Tuesday night, while the MLB wraps up the World Series. Pixar's latest flick Monsters University hits Blu-ray, while Battlefield 4 and Assassin's Creed IV: Black ...
Rockstar Games has finally fulfilled its promise of bringing Grand Theft Auto 5's iFruit companion app to Android. Over a month after the game's launch and the app's iOS availability, you can trick out your ride or train Franklin's dog from your handset running Mountain View's OS. Our Nexus 4 phones ...
While Apple CEO Tim Cook may have put one rumor to rest during today's earnings call, he basically confirmed another one: When asked about the availability of the iPad mini with Retina display, Cook said that the new model will start shipping "later in November," but that it's "unclear whether we'll ...
Just in case Apple's pricing scheme didn't make things crystal clear, CEO Tim Cook may have just set one thing to rest during today's earnings call: The iPhone 4s is the company's entry level model, and the 5c -- once said to be tailored for emerging markets and targeting more price-sensitive ...