Pretty Big Mini Rival

Aston wants a piece of Mini.

>>> First up, lemme give you a brief preview write up:
Yuu can see the traditional and familiar Aston face : The vertically-stacked lights and the wide-gaping low grille.

The rear also has familiar cues from traditional models albeit less so than the original concept of last year. Now , the production version you see here , has a VW Golf-ish rear lamp clusters.

The designers cum sculptors have done their very best with 'surface flaming' and swages to render the side profile as swoopy as a short-stubby car could possibly be.

Any car with as Aston badge needs to pop-it-like-its-hot on the inside. It has to scream sporty, exclusive and expensive. And so here , it doesn't disappoint (too much). With high-quality hide stiched over everywhere (possibly many cows died here of claustrophobia), edgy and exclusive embossed materials on the seats and door panels, and polished piano-finish for the dash. Of course, while most Aston's have more traditional interiors, this here is meant for the younger and trendier-than-thou set so you'd expect hyper modern luxuries and amenities and an overall, more modern-take on things.

Drive-wise, no one has the inside story as yet, but ,this is an Aston, so expect sharp and precise hot-hatch/roadster-like hustling around the bends. (Which no Toyota ever was; so good luck with that).

>>>Now let's get on with general snipes at this car;

When I first came across the initial pictures of the Aston Martin Cygnet still on the design facility being chamfered away by its modellers ( you could almost sense their frustration going " More off! More off! Not sleek enough.. never sleek enough!" .) .

I was thinking " WTH. "

At that time, Aston claimed it was but a design study and a potential small car and should it ever come out, will be meant nothing more than a good-will gift to existing customers who just need a smaller ride to the nearest hypermart.

Totak bubbish right?

Until when I kinda stumbled upon a picture of one on the opposite page of an auto publication featuring a Fiat 500C(which by the way has a price tag so steep it's even more a joke than the Cygnet.)

Now , we all know that the Fiat 500 range was conceived to be that retro cart-like car to compete with the very successful BMW-owned MINI.

There. Got my drift? Aston Martin wants a piece of the MINI-clientele was well.

No chicken pie here . Only Baby-swan pie.

Only time'll tell if Aston Martin can indeed bring its sporting heritage to this end of the market.

Q... what a very expensive little bird it's gonna be.

B(ig) MW

The all-new 5th generation BMW 7-series flagship has finally been unveiled.

At a time when fuel prices mean you might afford a car but not the blood that runs through its veins, this is ostentatious indeed.

But, luxury always had a big price to pay for.

So this is hardly a moot point.

Anyway, back to this magnificent car.

It's bold and loud as can be this side of a Chrysler 300C SRT8.

Just check out the sheer size of the twin kidney grille. And the faboulosity of the rear end. And watch that muscular-in-motion stance.

Alright, just lemme let-rip : "OMG !!! It is GORGEOUS!!!"

LOL

Isn't it obvious BMW is trying to create that aura of sporty thrust of the Maserati
Quattroporte and the stative class of the Lexus LS460?


Q :-)

Gina is a Gorgeous Shape Shifter

No , Gina ain't some transvestite off the streets (no offense though) , mind you.

But

a revolutionary concept car

that has helped shaped all of the current generation of dramatic

'Flame Surfacing' BMWs for the last 7 years.

And yes, it has taken Gina a full 7 years to come out of the closet... :p

Chris Bangle, the chief designer of the new wave BMWs, has the type of industry-wake-up call vision quite like non other in quite a while.

Who can ignore the controversial 7-Series, the viper-esque 1-Series and the bullish 6- Series?

They are at once jarring as they are pleasing to the aesthetic senses.

With odd proportions, strategically placed ridge lines all over as if carved out of stone by millions of years of wind or water erosion and cleverly dissecting panel gaps, the BMWs of today, are icons of maverick.


And one look at Gina and one can see where the genetic oddities came from.

But Gina is more than being a design mother ship.

This car is a headliner because , get this , she is a space frame car wrapped in fabric.

Of course, it ain't the normal fixed space frame we have in our cars, but one that has movable components that help morph the high tech fabric swathed over the outside.

What this means is that

we have a car that morphs in shape.

No panel gaps. No transformer here. Instead...

Everything is shape-shifting.

Like a giant reptilian-being, the doors open up like mysterious arms, the headlights 'blink' open like an awakened beast. The rear spoiler protrudes up perkier when speed numbers go illegal. When it needs to breathe more, the nostrils can flare up bigger . Even the steering wheel, gear knob and all other controls within and the seats form out of no where to engage your position within. Kinky at best, alien trap at worst.

For the first time in history,

FORM DOES MEET FUNCTION. AND FUNCTION MEETS FORM.

And one can only stare in awe at this magnificent car as light pings onto its surface and flows into liquid...

Emotional. Indeed.
Q