Aston Martin has confirmed production of its Cygnet super-mini range will cease by the end of the year after selling just 150 models in the UK since its 2011 launch.
The British automotive had hoped for sales figures of 4,000 annually for the car with a market value of £32,000.
It had hoped the three-door Cygnet, based on the Toyota 77203.T iQ but marketed at three times the price, would appeal to young environmentally conscious urban drivers.
Ian Fletcher, an automotive analyst at research consultancy IHS, said the decision to introduce the car was misjudged by Aston Martin.
“The Cygnet was intended to catapult the brand into a new market but at roughly double the price of many competing cars in that segment, it was misjudged by Aston Martin,” he said.
“The premium supermini market is a good place to be at the moment but Aston got it wrong in thinking putting a grill and a fancy interior on what was basically a Toyota iQ would make people buy it.”
The poor performance contributed to the 100-year-old company racking up a £24.6million pre-tax loss in 2012, an increase from a £21.2million loss a year earlier.
Revenues also fell 9 per cent to £461.2million, with global sales down to 67,500 compared with a peak of 110,000 in 2007.
