Luxury car-maker Aston Martin has unveiled its first luxury small city car, or what it calls its “luxury commuter concept” – the Cygnet.

The move represents a radical departure for the luxury car manufacturer, most celebrated for the super sleek sports cars driven by James Bond.

The concept car, developed in partnership with Toyota, is heavily based on Toyota’s much-lauded small car, the iQ.

Like the iQ, the new luxury mini-sedan will be only 2.98 meter in length and able to fit four comfortably.

It will have CO2 emissions of a mere 99g/km – well below the EU target of 130g/km by 2015 for all cars produced in Europe.

There’s one catch: the Cygnet will be made available to existing Aston Martin customers only.

That means one Aston Martin for the highways, and one, the Cygnet, offered for greener city travel.

“This concept – akin to an exclusive tender to a luxury yacht – will allow us to apply Aston Martin design language, craftsmanship and brand values to a completely new segment of the market”.

The car is rumored to have a price of some £20,000 ($34,000), which would make the Cygnet the most expensive small car on the market.

Production of the Cygnet is expected to be kept between 1,000-2,000 units a year, according to Channel 4. AFPrelaxnews, 2009