Embute a V8 to a Toyota IQ. And you can buy it

Intelligence quotient. A classification that helps establish whether you are inside or not (for better or worse) of the average of the rest of the population in terms of your cognitive performance. Or, in flat words: intelligence.

IQ exams are used to establish whether people have any cognitive problems or, for example, if you are well above the average. For the latter, the acronym IQ are usually related to the level of intelligence. That relationship was used by Toyota when presenting one of its urban cars.

When presenting the Toyota IQ, the Japanese wanted to make clear one thing: it was an intelligent option. An urban car, of very restrained size and spent little to be used in the city. The association was as clear as Smart (intelligent and elegant in English) to a company that presented a car with very similar features.

In Km77 They explained in their Toyota IQ test that it was a relatively spacious car for passengers and that, above all, it moved very well in city, with a very content radius but that, at the same time, its capabilities were not excessively sacrificed when it went on open road.

Was, in summary, a Extremely intelligent decision for those who will look for a car in a city that would not spend much and who did not want to spend much more than 10,000 euros.

All that intelligence that was diluted when a luxury brand was able to ask for almost 40,000 euros for that same car.

One of the most rare astron Martin in history

Because that’s what Aston Martin did with Cygnet. The English company took advantage of a collaboration with Toyota to give the IQ some touch -ups and put it on the market at a price of 40,000 euros.

The idea of ​​the company was clear: enjoy a Aston Martin in your day to day without the need to get into the street The typical DB9 that you keep in the garage. It was something like a tuned Toyota. The front hood received two air inputs or the front grill took the image of the English company.

But there was a problem: it was the same car. Literally, Aston Martin Cygnet and Toyota IQ was the same car. Aston Martin did not even bother to put a much more powerful engine to attract potential customers and, at least, make you believe you were before the sports version of the Japanese model.

They lost the opportunity to make him something anthological, one of those small sportsmen who go down in history. Something that broke everything reasonable. Use the 1.3 VVT-I 98 CV It was also available at the Toyota was to kill the potential of the car. A decision that came because of the imperative need to have to reduce the company’s average emissions and thus avoid fines.

That ballast became evident with its sales. Especially if we take into account that the Cygnet could add a few thousand to the final invoice if it was chosen with automatic change (1,435 euros) or leather upholstery (another 3,988 euros). Although the owner of a Aston Martin did not have many problems to leave 40,000 euros in a utility … it was difficult to think that they were going to sell it simply by changing the grill.

To have an idea of ​​its commercial failure, the company planned to sell about 4,000 units a year of the Cygnet. Sold at a rhythm of 150 units annually. The failure was such that it squandered the little economic effort that the company had made and killed the possibility of entering a new market if it had offered an attractive product.

But there was a very special Aston Cygnet

In spite of everything, we can forget some of the things I wrote above.

Because, indeed, there was a really special Aston Cygnet they called Aston Martin V8 Super Cygnet. The English company struck a tremendous V8 in one of the units manufactured and created the ONE OFF That every lover of tiny sportsmen would like to have seen in series.

The car appeared for the first time in Goodwood in 2018 And, this time, I did have a body at height. It seems that the Toyota IQ had been atibored to steroids, with widened wheel steps of carbon fiber, the new company of the company (more gross and less elegant), specific disc brakes for this unit, anti -collide cage with competition recharging seats, new transmission tunnel … an engineering exercise that was resolved with the jewel of the crown.

That jewel was a huge ATMOSPHERIC V8 LITER MOTOR that delivered a power of 436 hp (inherited directly from the Aston Martin Vantage S) that launched the cygnet to the 100 km/h in 4.2 seconds. It should be a feeling to reach 272 km/h that marked peak speed in a chassis that measured less than three meters.

And now, that ONE OFF It is for sale. Specifically in the portal of Nicholas Meeknown for the spectacular models that you have available among your offer. At the moment, who looks for a Aston Martin Cygnet will find them around 40,000 euros but, obviously, this unit should be much more expensive.

In the purchase portal they have not published its price but it is expected that it reaches an extraordinarily high figure since the base model has already sold very few units and this version with V8 motor is what every fan would have asked when we knew that Aston Martin would have his own urban model.

Photo | Aston Martin

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