Aston Martin Drops Cygnet City Car

Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd. is eliminating the tiny Cygnet from its product line.

The $49,900 luxury city car is a heavily upgraded version of Toyota Motor Corp.'s $15,000 iQ minicar. Both models are powered by a 1.3-liter, 97-hp four-cylinder engine.

Aston Martin introduced the Cygnet in 2011 as a low-cost, fuel-efficient alternative to company's high-end V8- and V12-powered sports cars. Aston Martin built just 143 Cygnets before suspending production.

During its brief lifecycle, the Cygnet helped Aston Martin significantly lower its corporate average carbon dioxide emissions. But the company tells Autocar it has no plans to re-enter the supermini or city car segments.

Nevertheless, some reports suggest that Aston Martin's technical partnership with the Mercedes-Benz AMG unit could lead to a new city car in the future.