Its boot may be smaller than the average suitcase, but this baby-faced Aston Martin took up every inch of its baggage allowance to take a trip aboard a Boeing 777 passenger airliner.
The new £30,000 city runaround, named the Cygnet by the luxury motor brand, was flown by special command on an Emirates Airlines aircraft from Glasgow Airport to Cyprus in time for the birthday celebrations of a wealthy customer.
The lavishly appointed supermini – which bears the car company’s famous winged badge – was carefully strapped onto an Emirates SkyCargo plate.
Like a scene almost from a James Bond movie, the car, believed to be a gift, was carefully manoeuvred into place in the baggage hold of the passenger jet before setting off for Dubai last week before travelling on to Cyprus.
Phil Rawlings, UK cargo manager for Emirates SkyCargo, said yesterday: ‘The Cygnet certainly stood out from the other plates at our Glasgow SkyCargo warehouse, especially as it is the first time a car has flown on our Glasgow flight.’
The shipper of the Aston Martin, Michael Howard-Johnston of motor retailer CyprusCars.eu, said his company had been concerned that completing the shipment on time would have proved too tall an order, until he contacted Emirates SkyCargo.
‘Emirates promised to deliver it in a matter of days and were the only ones who could do so. Flying it out of Glasgow Airport also saved us the time and inconvenience of further land transport.
‘The Aston Martin Cygnet is a fantastic little car and Emirates have transported her efficiently and with great care.’
Regarded as one of the funkiest city cars in production, the Cygnet is identical to the £13,000 Toyota iQ, but has a deluxe interior and a premium £30,995 price tag.
Aston Martin has also remade every body panel except the roof. The Cygnet shares the distinctive bright aluminium grille of the £1million One-77 model and the leather interior is all hand-stitched.
And while the 777 which transported her was belching out CO2, the supermini was developed to cut the Aston car fleet’s average CO2 emissions below the 130g/km level where it would have incurred hefty EU fines.
It shares the same 1.33-litre engine, chassis and gearbox as its Toyota parent, achieving a top speed of 107mph and 0-62mph in 11.6 seconds.
However, it can boast far better fuel economy than the thirsty grown-up cousins favoured by James Bond, returning 54.3mpg and relatively healthy CO2 emissions of 116 g/km.
Daily Mail