Aston Martin
Aston Rapide, Aston One-77, Aston Cygnet
Aston Cygnet
From a £1.2million hypercar to a Toyota iQ-based mini, Aston will certainly have the most diverse range on the market in 2010. The new Cygnet luxury city car will be available only to existing Aston owners and will feature the same attention to detail as is seen on the firm’s larger models. That means a leather-clad cabin, plus an ECU (Emotion Control Unit) which plugs into the centre console, replacing a traditional key. In other news, Aston will release two Carbon Black special editions of the V12 Vantage and DBS in 2010.
Aston One-77
The £1.2m One-77 could well be the most expensive car of 2010 – but it’s also the most exclusive, with only 77 being built. Boasting a 700bhp 7.3-litre V12 and weighing in at around 1,500kg, it’s predicted to have a 200mph-plus top speed and do 0-60mph in 3.5 seconds.
Aston Rapide
The Rapide is set to rival Porsche’s Panamera in the ever-expanding four-door supercoupé market. Yet whereas the latter’s proportions look awkward, the Aston’s flowing lines hide the extra doors and space perfectly.
There’s room in the back for two adults, and the 317-litre boot can be increased to 886 litres with the seats folded. Power comes from the DB9’s 6.0-litre V12, which will transfer its 470bhp to the rear wheels through a Touchtronic box to give a sub-five-second 0-60mph time.
Priced at £140,000 and on sale in April, the car will have impressive standard kit including a custom-made Bang and Olufsen stereo, heated memory seats, dual-cast brakes and adaptive suspension. In a first for Aston, the Rapide will be built outside Britain. But as we saw on our visit to the new plant in Graz, Austria (Issue 1,090), there are no worries about quality: more than 220 painstaking hours are spent on each hand-built car.