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Aston CEO claims Cygnet cancelled because Toyota is dropping iQ in 2014

While slow sales and a $50,000 price tag may have been contributing factors to the Aston Martin Cygnet being cancelled last month, Aston Martin CEO Ulrich Bez is pointing the finger at Toyota for the demise of this luxurious little city car. In a discussion with Autocar, Bez is quoted as saying that the ultimate reason the Cygnet was cut is because Toyota plans on dropping the iQ (on which the Cygnet is based) in 2014 - a claim denied by the Japanese automaker.
Interestingly, the article also cites another publication reporting that a Toyota importer in the Netherlands heard the same news as Bez, and it has already stopped importing the cars. If the European Toyota iQ is cancelled, that would likely spell the end of the slow-selling Scion iQ in the US, which has sold just 3,365 units through September (a drop of 51 percent year over year).
Regardless of why production of the Cygnet ended, Bez also says that a lack of support from Toyota on the project prevented it from being offered in the US or receiving a supercharged engine, which are two factors that likely would have made the car appealing to more buyers.

This guy bought a 1971 Aston Martin DBS instead of a house

The right classic car can make its dedicated owner do seemingly crazy things to non-enthusiasts, but Michael von Trzebiatowski goes to serious lengths for his 1971 Aston Martin DBS V8 in the latest episode of Petrolicious. Faced with a choice between a house or this classic coupe, von Trzebiatowski did the only rational thing. He bought the Aston Martin. It took von Trzebiatowski a decade to find his DBS, and even then affording it was a stretch. The coupe first attracted him as a kid after seeing Roger Moore driving one on TV, but the car's understated design lured him as an adult. "It's a bit portly, good-natured, and robust," he says to describe this British V8 grand tourer. Von Trzebiatowski once worried that his connection to the Aston Martin could have faded over time, and he might eventually have regretted the big purchase. That hasn't happened, thankfully. We'll let him explain why on Petrolicious. News Source: Petrolicious via YouTube Design/Style Aston Martin Coupe Performance Classics Videos petrolicious

Aston Martin DBX spied looking like a finished product

The Aston Martin DBX is inching closer to its December reveal, and today we get to see the SUV in its most finished form yet. One of our spy shooters managed to catch a DBX out and about with production headlights, taillights, door handles and rear fascia. It’s great to see the DBX like this, because until now weÂ’ve only seen it in the mule-like form that Aston wanted us to see. Taking a look at the rear end is where things really start coming together. Instead of the odd, pod-like taillights, some slick and thin light fixtures extend from the ducktail spoiler into the rear fender. They look proper on the rear end of the SUV. Just a bit below these are the two exhaust outlets. ThereÂ’s still plenty of camouflage about, but the exhaust tips and molding around it appears to be production-spec. ItÂ’s interesting to see the exhaust so high up on the rear bumper in an SUV, and they also stick out a fair amount. Just watch for the flaming hot tips when loading and unloading items directly after driving it. We also gain a better understanding of what the grille is going to look like up front. Instead of the wire mesh weÂ’ve been looking at before, this maw has actual slats and a defined shape. The headlights look like production units, and there are cutouts for possible foglights down there, too. Instead of the unfinished rear door handles, Aston appears to have installed the electric pop-out units weÂ’ve been seeing in the front for awhile. There are more creases and muscular lines visible all over the vehicle that were covered up previously, too. As September quickly approaches, the DBXÂ’s reveal in December isnÂ’t that far out anymore. A few more months will pass, and then the first Aston Martin SUV will be out. There will be plenty of Mercedes-Benz part sharing, but weÂ’re still excited to see what an Aston SUV ends up like