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Official: Aston Martin Cygnet axed – fewer than 150 sold

Sir Stirling Moss was one of fewer than 150 Aston Martin Cygnet buyers Last month we reported that Aston Martin appeared to have axed their take on a supermini – the Aston Martin Cygnet – after just a couple of years. Now that news seems to be official after Reuters spoke to an Aston Martin source who also said the Cygnet sold so poorly that fewer than 150 were sold. That must make the Cygnet one of the poorest performing cars in any company’s sales history, especially as that fewer than 150 total was supposed to be 4,000 a year.

CDN launches Studio Photos

Car Design News is today launching 'Studio Photos', an extensive new library of high quality car photos taken in a photography studio. Developed in conjunction with automotive design research consultancy Car Men, it is a unique CDN member service created specifically as a visual benchmarking tool for design studios and consultancies who require directly comparable photos of production cars. Most designers or researchers will be familiar with the task of quickly finding good images of specific cars, details of some new model's tail lamp, or the side view of a particular class-leading competitor.

MOT test gets tougher for diesels

THE MOT TEST for cars with diesel engines is set to become much tougher from February 2014 due to new rules about exhaust filters. Diesel-engined cars fitted with an exhaust filter as standard when new will now be checked to make sure it is still present. Any car found to have had the filter removed will be automatically failed and required to have a new filter fitted.