The half a million pound Aston Martin – but where’s the rest of it? Diminutive Cygnet city car with a V8 engine wedged under the bonnet is for sale

A one-of-a-kind Aston Martin is being provided on the market for the primary time ever – however the automotive is extra Oddjob than 007.

With an asking value of ‘just below half 1,000,000 kilos’, you may count on it to be one of many iconic marque’s restricted version high-performance supercars or a motor featured in a blockbuster Bond movie.

However as a substitute the near-£500k car is a repurposed Toyota metropolis automotive with extra energy than you would think about – or ever want!

Dubbed ‘the world’s smallest supercar’, it has a 430bhp 4.7-litre V8 engine from a V8 Vantage S compelled into its dinky engine bay.

The Cygnet V8 is a novel creation by the British luxurious car maker’s Q Division that has by no means been recreated since, making this a real one-off motor.

Nicholas Mee, founding father of specialist automotive gross sales firm Nicholas Mee & Firm, says: ‘For visible affect, engineering intrigue and sheer “wow” issue, nothing comes near the “Tremendous Cygnet”.’

Whereas it’s listed by the Hertfordshire vendor as POA (value on software), That is Cash is informed it needs round £500,000 for this bonkers Aston Martin. 

Commenting on the automotive’s sale, Mee stated: ‘The V8 Tremendous Cygnet represents Aston Martin engineering at its most inventive and audacious. 

‘It is a sensible demonstration of what occurs whenever you mix the guts of a V8 Vantage S with the compact dimensions of the Cygnet metropolis automotive. 

‘The result’s merely extraordinary – a 430bhp pocket rocket that delivers supercar thrills in a bundle you would park within the tightest metropolis house. 

‘It is distinctive, impressed, a bona fide collector automotive that’s assured to place a smile on any fanatic’s face.’

The Aston Martin Cygnet (left) was launched by the British model in 2011 in a bid to tug down the common CO2 emissions of its sports activities automotive vary. It was a rebranded Toyota iQ (proper) with a 1.33-litre petrol engine

Launched in 2011, the Aston Martin Cygnet was a rebranded Toyota iQ with a 1.3-litre four-cylinder petrol engine and shoebox-like dimensions. 

The British sports activities automotive model struck a cope with the Japanese auto big in order that it may use the iQ platform to successfully cheat emissions necessities from the start of the 2010s. 

Tasked with bringing down the emissions outputs of its high-performance sports activities vehicles, it as a substitute bought the Cygnet as a super-economical luxurious metropolis automotive that will successfully drag down the common CO2 outputs of its mannequin vary.

But it surely wasn’t low cost when it was out there new.

Fitted with a bespoke inside and Aston’s well-known gaping grille, costs began from £32,115 – greater than double the value of the Toyota it was based mostly on.

And it did not keep on sale for lengthy. 

By 2013, Aston had discontinued it having bought fewer than 1,000 globally. Solely 143 made it onto UK roads – with the Tremendous Cygnet being one in every of them. 

Cygnet on steroids. The Tremendous Cygnet V8 was created by Aston Martin’s Q Division based mostly in Gaydon. You may see how simply how excessive it’s in comparison with the usual automotive

Dubbed ‘the world’s smallest supercar’, it has a 430bhp 4.7-litre V8 engine from a V8 Vantage S compelled into its dinky engine bay

With the monumental engine sending 430bhp to the rear wheels, the Cygnet V8  can speed up from 0-to-60mph in simply 4.2 seconds and – reportedly – proceed as much as a high pace of 170mph. And sure, it IS highway authorized…

The eight-cylinder engine – which was donated from a V8 Vantage S of the identical interval (pictured)

The 2018-registered car is believed to be essentially the most potent road-legal metropolis automotive you should buy in Britain.

The outlandish venture was delivered to life over the course of a 10-month improvement interval within the palms of Aston Martin’s specialist tuning Q Division based mostly at its state-of-the-art headquarters in Gaydon. 

Sharing solely the manufacturing Cygnet’s physique panels, home windows and lighting, each different side of the automotive is exclusive to the Tremendous Cygnet. 

The eight-cylinder engine – which was donated from a V8 Vantage S of the identical interval – is married to a seven-speed ‘Sport Shift’ paddle-shift gearbox to ship all 430 horses to the rear wheels solely.

But it surely wasn’t a easy case of dropping an enormous motor into the compact engine bay. 

The outlandish venture was delivered to life over the course of a 10-month improvement interval within the palms of Aston Martin’s specialist tuning Q Division based mostly at its state-of-the-art headquarters in Gaydon

The eight-cylinder engine is married to a seven-speed ‘Sport Shift’ paddle-shift gearbox to ship all 430 horses to the rear wheels solely 

The Cygnet’s platform was modified to include the V8 Vantage S entrance and rear subframe assemblies, together with suspension and ABS programs – an ingenious feat of packaging from Aston Martin’s tuning division

Aston Martin’s Q Division stripped out the rear passenger bench to put in a security roll cage for further rigidity and energy

The additional security skeleton is required because of the probability that the automotive’s compact wheelbase and outrageous energy could possibly be greater than a handful for even essentially the most gifted drivers

The Cygnet’s platform was modified to include the V8 Vantage S entrance and rear subframe assemblies, together with suspension and ABS programs – an ingenious feat of packaging from Aston Martin’s tuning division.

In addition they stripped out the rear passenger bench to put in a security roll cage for further rigidity and energy – in addition to the probability that its compact wheelbase and outrageous energy could possibly be greater than a handful for even essentially the most gifted drivers. 

Weighing in at simply 1,375kg, the Tremendous Cygnet packs a formidable power-to-weight ratio of 313bhp per tonne.

It could speed up from 0-to-60mph in simply 4.2 seconds and [reportedly] proceed as much as a high pace of 170mph – assuming you discovered a driver courageous sufficient to strive it. 

Aston Martin’s works racing driver Darren Turner had tried to place the determine to the take a look at however solely managed to hit 155mph earlier than operating out of runway at Bruntingthorpe’s proving grounds.

Weighing in at simply 1,375kg, the Tremendous Cygnet packs a formidable power-to-weight ratio of 313bhp per tonne

Left: The usual inside of the Aston Martin Cygnet bought from 2011 to 2013. Proper: The stripped out cabin of the Tremendous Cygnet V8

The Aston Martin Tremendous Cygnet V8 made its public debut on the 2018 Goodwood Competition of Velocity (pictured)

It made its public debut on the 2018 Goodwood Competition of Velocity, astonishing onlookers because the acquainted metropolis automotive silhouette sped up the famed Goodwood hill-climb course, a wild – and decidedly incongruous – V8 wail trailing in its wake.

Supplied on the market the primary time, this bona fide collector automotive has been usually maintained by Aston Martin’s in-house workforce of engineers. 

‘Having been professionally saved for all of its life, the Tremendous Cygnet is offered in practically as new situation and has lined a mere 2,900 miles because it first emerged from the Aston Martin facility again in 2018,’ Nicholas Mee says.

‘The V8 Cygnet is provided with absolutely documented technical specs, its authentic operator guide, a particular, additionally one-off, Cygnet V8 proprietor’s handbook, in addition to a bespoke fitted automotive cowl, and a particular model-related registration quantity.

‘This distinctive alternative to amass what could be very probably the world’s smallest supercar.’