It’s the sound you hear first, standing just beyond Molecomb corner at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. A deep rumble, with a menacing top note. Surely a V8, and could it be an Aston Martin? Right on both counts. And yet, so very, very wrong. Because around the sharp bend by the hay bales comes a tiny hatchback, seemingly as wide as it is high, bulging at every angle, Buckinghamshire green paintwork glinting, broad Aston grille smirking as it flies past. This is the frankly insane world of the Aston Martin V8 Super Cygnet, which has been for sale for the first time.
The Super Cygnet is almost entirely bespoke and absolutely unique, which given its power and speed might just be a good thing, given also that it’s road legal. Basis - if you can call it that - was Aston Martin’s attempt to comply with new emissions regulations in the form of a rebadged Toyota IQ, called the Cygnet. The makeover, including made-to-measure interior, was quite far from a great success, with a mere 750 examples being sold. These are highly prized, reaching around £30,000 on the used market.
For one Aston enthusiast there was potential in what looked like a failure. Why not make the Cygnet into a proper Aston Martin, with proper Aston Martin power? And send it up the hill at Goodwood? Q division, Aston’s James Bond-referencing commissions service, set to work. Aston Martin engineering had 10 months, before a planned Goodwood debut in 2018, to turn Japanese hatchback with Aston Martin references into a miniature supercar worthy of the famous badge. The Super Cygnet is the triumphant result.
Specifications raise a few eyebrows. Engineers somehow had to fit an Aston Martin Vantage V8 engine under the short nose of the Cygnet. The standard front wheel-drive Cygnet’s 1.3-litre inline four produces 97 bhp, and is capable of reaching 60 mph in 11.8 seconds. Super Cygnet has 430 bhp from a 4.7-litre V8, with 60 mph coming up in 4.2 seconds, or just half a second slower than an actual Aston Martin Vantage. The run to the supermarket has never been quicker.
All of that power is now directed to the rear wheels, through a seven-speed paddle-controlled gearbox. Subframe assemblies - front and rear - are from big brother Vantage V8, as, reassuringly, is the ABS braking system. Interior doesn’t stint on the luxuries, boasting Aston Martin instruments, a one-off carbon fibre dashboard and Recaro race-derived seating featuring proper race harnesses. Aston Martin’s ace competition driver Darren Turner strapped himself in to reach 155 mph on an airport runway. Not necessarily recommended for civilian roads.
Want it? We do, obviously. So we’re sad to report that supercar merchants Nicholas Mee have now sold the Super Cygnet. Hardly surprising, given its appeal to Aston Martin collectors. Price unspecified, but if you’d have handed over half a million, it could perhaps have been yours. Let’s hope it goes up that Goodwood hill again.
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