Aston Martin Cygnet City-Car Makes Official Appearance

Remember the Aston Martin Cygnet?  The company's first city-car broke cover back in June, as a sub-£20k (sub-$33k) sop to urban dwellers and environmentalists.  Now the company have released the first official shots of the Cygnet, and it's certainly distinctive.

Though it's based on the Toyota iQ, the grafting of the traditional Aston Martin snout onto the Cygnet has left it looking quite a lot like a Smart ForTwo.  Expect plenty of leather on the inside, as the company attempt to differentiate the Cygnet from its origins ahead of the expected European launch sometime in 2010.

Aston Martin originally said they intend to shift a mere 4,000 to 5,000 Cygnets per year, and in doing so they'll likely take a big bite out of their overall CO2 output and MPG figures.  Considering incoming emissions regulations judge marques on the average of their results across the whole range, rather than on a model-by-model basis, the Cygnet will help drag down the eye-watering stats associated with Aston Martin's more profligate sportscars.