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Although a lot of luxury car lovers are still puzzled what Aston Martin is thinking when it hinted of the Cygnet, the carmaker recently announced the details of the upcoming launch of the city car in April. The lowest tier Cygnet will have a sticker price of at least $49,340.

We bet you paused there for a bit and stared at the tag price. You read it right, the Aston Martin Cygnet will be $21,000 more expensive than the cheapest of the city cars, the Toyota iQ. The pricing of the Cygnet puts it in the price category of the C Class of Mercedes-Benz, 3-Series of BMW, and the Audi A4.

Aston Martin explains that consumers will be getting a British manufactured iQ that has the styling touch of Aston Martin plus all the leather you can imagine for the interior. If that sounds short, there will also be heated seats, GPS navigation, and passive entry. Everyone might have the “but still…” in mind.

Aston Martin is really determined to push the Cygnet to the market. The car manufacturer is deteremined to release 2 special editions. The cars come with some unique styling, upgrades for the interiors, and a luggage set by Bill Amberg.

The performance numbers have not been released yet but if the power will come from the 1.33L Toyota sourced powerplant, it may have an output of 97 horsepwoer with a torque of 91 lb-ft. The engine will be coupled most likely with a CVT or a 5-speed manual transmission.

Initially, the Aston Martin Cygnet will be released only in Europe but the company is looking to expand the coverage by 2012.

It seems like forever since GM has made the news but right now, they are pulling themselves out of the hole that they were in last year.  In fact, in February, their sales were actually up by about 12%.  To continue in the trend, they are actually offering up 0% financing for 60 months on sales that happen during the month of March.

What this means is that there is a fantastic chance for you to get a brand new car from GM and not have to worry about the financing.  This is a sales strategy that I believe is going to certainly work in the benefit of the company.

Not only is it going to bring in more and more business, but it is going to allow people that need a new car to get one.

When you think about it – GM has not only had a tough, tough year but they have had a lot of ups and downs.  One good thing about GM right now is that Chris Liddell is in charge and although Chris Liddell does not have an automotive background, he definitely does know what he is doing … maybe.

One thing that I have noticed though and I am not the only one is that Chris Liddell is looking to run his own company.  Could he be on the track to become CEO of GM?  Doubtful in my mind but it might happen.

Right now, Chris Liddell is the CFO and he needs to succeed at that before he even attempts to become CEO of anything.

… and it’s the one and only Lamborghini Gallardo. Vanessa Rousso is one of the most popular poker players of the moment – and I just can’t imagine her paying for this car with her own money. Either GoDaddy, DC Motors or PokerStars hooked her up with this ride – or it’s a gift from poker-player boyfriend Chad Brown.

If she did buy it herself: learn something about the car you just bought before you hand out interviews pimping it, girl!

When you think about it … what have we been waiting for, forever now?  Well, we have been waiting for a plug-in car and that is exactly what Toyota is giving us!  Finally, they have announced that they are going to be releasing in 2011 the brand new Toyota Prius PHEV, PHEV means Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle.  This is a program that is going to start out as a lease but with success, I think that you will be able to buy these awesome cars.

Toyota will be building and deploying somewhere around six hundred examples of the Toyota Prius PHEV for testing which is mostly going to take place in Japan.  The Japanese market will get about 230 units and then about 150 will go to the states and finally, 200 will go over to Europe.

The Toyota Prius PHEV is honestly one car that I think I want to invest in.  Not only is it safe for the environment but it actually looks awesome!

How cute is this? It is the GEM Peapod, by Chrysler LLC. GEM stands for “Green Eco Mobility.” So not only is this little … thing … absolutely adorable, it is good for the environment as well!

It was revealed at the headquarters over in Michigan — Auburn Hills, to be exact. The Peapod name naturally comes from the vehicle’s exterior, which is quite like a pod, with its prominent window and its wholly organic silhouette. Inside, there is iPod integration, the seats are mesh to encourage circulation of air, and the materials used inside are not just recycled, they are also recyclable. It does not get any better than that!

The vehicle runs on six 12 volt electrolyte batteries — flooded ones, even, and it has an onboard charger.

Just in case you are wondering, the title of this post is more than a little tongue in cheek. Sorry, sometimes I am just completely unable to resist being a little snarky.

This thing … it looks like a big brown … well. The word I am thinking of here starts with a T and rhymes with “bird.” Whoever guesses that word first wins a brand new Toyota Venza! (I’m just kidding. It may look a little blah and stinky, but making fun of it does not pay me enough money to actually afford one.)

But anyway! The crossover sedan was revealed last year at the Detroit Auto Show. I thought maybe it would look better to me in a year, but it doesn’t.

I don’t care how refined the reviewers and automakers say it is; you can put a lot of frosting on a piece of poo and it still looks like a piece of poo.

Granted, choosing another color for photo ops would probably make this better, but marketing is everything, and if what you see is what you get here, I don’t want to get it at all.

Cars are to boys, as shoes are to girls. That explains why men often mark significant phases of their lives with cars: teenage dreams, personal achievement, male menopause, whatever. But sorry boys, as impossible as it may seen, according to a new study, a brand new car won’t help you much to attract women. Maybe that’s because more and more women are buying themselves cars, making them toys for big girls as well.

A study that was commissioned by the Australian Top Gear revealed that the brain of a typical woman does not show significant reactions to men whether they are driving a Ferrari of a beaten-down jalopy that was due for the museum, say 20 years ago?

Based on pop culture and belief, men who drive an attractive and fast vehicle automatically become more attractive to women compared to those pedaling away in bicycles. Also men who are generally attractive (or believe to be attractive) are immune to the type of car they drive. According to Neuro Insight’s Peter Pynta, the one who made the study, you don’t have to worry about driving a jalopy if you’re already attractive.

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Now that the Cash for Clunkers program is out there and people are constantly taking advantage of it – how do you know for sure that your clunker is going to qualify and the car that you are looking at is going to qualify?  To be honest, I have heard quite a few horror stories about people bringing their clunkers all the way up to the dealer and then getting rejected because ‘apparently’ their clunker does not qualify for the program.

This is where you need to get online and do your research.  The government is a fickle thing, we all know that and honestly, you need to make sure that your clunker actually qualifies and the car that you are in the market for actually is in the program and you can get it – there are a lot of different restrictions and you need to make sure that you are within them.

Cash for Clunkers is a fantastic program, however you just need to make sure that you are within the program and can handle all of the restrictions!

Have you ever seriously thought about getting yourself a Lotus?  I mean honestly, they are one of the hottest cars in the world and while they are rare – they are absolutely worth the investment.  This particular sports car though is now available for rent via Hertz in Italy!  To me – that is pretty awesome.  I know if I was going to Italy, I would absolutely want to drive around in style and now you can!

While this car may not be one of the top sports cars in Italy, it is certainly in the top twenty and I think that if they have the Lotus available for rent the next time that I am in Italy, I will be taking advantage of it and definitely get myself behind the wheel of this beautiful – great looking sports car.

Remember, Italy is the capital of style and if you are driving around in one of the Saab or Coopers, you will not look nearly as cool than if you rolled up in a Lotus!