Aston Martin to Rebadge the Toyota iQ

Aston Martin's Cygnet concept, based on the Toyota iQ

Apparently, a lot of people think the Toyota iQ is a good idea.

Our original post on the minuscule Toyota questioned whether or not the car made sense for the United States, especially with gas prices well below the $4-per-gallon mark.

I remain skeptical, even though a lot of great comments made valid arguments. If one thing can change my mind, though, it’s Aston Martin.

Toyota iQ

The elite car maker is taking the tiny iQ and giving it a new super-luxo skin, complete with a new grill, headlights, trademark side vents, leather interior, and an all-new name: the Cygnet. Go ahead and laugh if you want - I did when I heard Rolls-Royce was decking out a set of MINI Coopers - but Aston Martin’s reworking of the iQ looks like it’s going to work.

At first, the Cygnet will be offered only to existing Aston Martin customers at a price of about $33,000. Only time will tell if they’ll make them available to the public. The iQ, though, should make it to the U.S. as a Scion in late 2010, as a 2011 model.

I still think the iQ and Cygnet are just too small for the United States, but this comment from reader Jerry Zabin and others like it are pretty convincing:

I just returned from Berlin and I saw the Toyota IQ up close. LOVE IT!!! If this car becomes available in the U.S., I am a definite buyer! Gas prices continue to rise and this car would fit the bill. With US carmakers in peril, it is no wonder…the day of the gas guzzler has passed! In Berlin, gas is nearly $5.25/gallon and you rarely see large cars on the road. Let’s get with it America….conservation is no longer optional, it is necessary. The Toyota IQ fits the bill!

If you’re like me, you’ll take Aston Martin’s endorsement of the iQ to heart. Maybe there’s something to this small-car thing after all.

Will a $33,000 rebadged Toyota hurt Aston Martin’s credibility?

-tgriffith

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Tesla Model S Video Introduction

As our regular readers already know, we’re big fans of Tesla Motors and its plan to build long-range plug-in electric cars with performance that matches or exceeds that of most sports cars. So we’re naturally very excited about Tesla’s anticipated Model S sedan, due for release as a 2011 model.

The Model S will extend Tesla’s thinking into a vehicle that can accommodate four adults at a much lower price point than that of Tesla’s currently available Roadster. You can get a better sense of the Model S through the video below, which features Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen and Tesla Chairman, Product Architect, and CEO Elon Musk.

What do you think: Will a relatively affordable, high-performance, pure-electric sedan serve as a game-changer for the auto business, at least here in America? Do you think Tesla’s Model S will be that game-changer?

-Steve Halloran

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The idea being pushed by T. Boone Pickens is fairly simple to understand, ...

 

 

Are natural gas vehicles the answer?

Have you heard of the Pickens Plan yet?

Keep an eye on a YouTube near you, because it’s exploding there.

The idea being pushed by T. Boone Pickens is fairly simple to understand, and I’ll simplify it even more here: To reduce our use of foreign oil, we take our domestic natural gas production and divert it to powering our automobiles. We use wind energy to make up for the loss of natural gas on our national energy grid.

This plan wouldn’t free us from importing foreign oil, but Pickens argues it would bridge the gap until hydrogen or electric powered cars are a feasible option.

As good as this plan sounds, it seems like there’s a fundamental problem with it. It’s the same problem that’s keeping hydrogen from becoming mainstream: places to fill up. See many natural gas stations on your last road trip?

The logistics and infrastructure required to add natural gas filling stations is only slightly less intimidating than building hydrogen filling stations. At least there are already vehicles, mostly in the public transportation domain, that are running on compressed natural gas. Honda even has a CNG car in the Civic GX,  but the car doesn’t deliver any better MPG numbers than a standard Civic LX.

I admire Pickens’ drive to create sustainable, domestic fuel for our cars. But this plan is only somewhat plausible in the coming years, when we need a solution that is feasible today.

And so far, nothing I see beats plain old conservation in the form of lighter, more fuel efficient gas and diesel cars while we wait for the next generation of clean auto fuel, whether that be CNG, hydrogen, electricity or something else entirely.

What do you think: Is Pickens a genius or a nut job?  

-tgriffith

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