Toyota Etios Concept

Toyota Etios Concept - Click above for high-res image gallery

It doesn't take a MENSA member to understand that small, inexpensive and reliable transportation is a big thing in India. On one side, you've got the diminutive Tata Nano. On the other, Honda's New Small Concept. And right in the middle is this: the Toyota Etios concept.

Due to be available in both four- and five-door variants, the Indian-market Etios is yet another inexpensive, easy to maintain runabout for India's burgeoning middle class. Amenities are minimal and so are the engine choices –a 1.2-liter in the hatch and a 1.5-liter in the sedan. But basic transport is each models reason for being, and when the Etios goes on sale in India later this year with a price well below $10,000. Toyota expects to sell around 70,000 units annually and plans to export the Etios in markets outside of India in the near future. But don't expect the either model to arrive in the States anytime soon. Hit the jump for the press release and thanks to Indianautosblog for the pics.

Toyota Etios Concept

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Want an Aston Martin Cygnet? You'll need to have a big boy Aston first

Aston Martin Cygnet - Click above for high-res image gallery

There are few automakers on earth as exclusive as Aston Martin, so we were more than a little surprised when the English exoticmaker announced it was going to build the Cygnet, a city car based on the prosaic Toyota iQ. After all, we chastise automakers for rebadging all the time, but Ford, Honda and General Motors products don't have anywhere near the exclusivity of Aston Martin. Then there is the Cygnet's reported $35,000 price tag. Some Aston purists were a little taken back by the "modest" $120,000 price tag of the V8 Vantage, so a $35,000 Toyota with a Rapide grille probably won't go over well with more than a few loyalists.

The New York Times has shed a little light on the subject, reporting that only owners of full-sized Astons will be eligible to purchase the Cygnet. Aston Martin CEO Ulrich Bez said in the winter issue of Aston Martin magazine that "this concept is akin to an exclusive tender for a luxury yacht." If that doesn't make sense to you non-yacht owners, think of it as a 105 mph golf cart for Aston owners.

To further help the Cygnet stay exclusive, Aston only plans to build 2,000 copies of the iQ-based city car and there are no current plans to sell the mini car in the U.S. market, so it might be fair to say this is a bit of a commuter special for Londonites. Even still, while this novel sales plan may help to mitigate potential brand degredation that Cygnet skeptics suggest it may bring about, we can't help but wonder how the thousands of non-Cygnet toting Aston owners will feel about their favored brand dipping a foot into the House of Toyota.