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Lee Noble's new company named
19 November 2009
Lee Noble's new supercar will recreate the spirit of the Noble M12 when it goes on sale next year under the newly formed Fenix brand.
Noble told Autocar that the aim of the £70,000 “track-focused” car, which will have a large V8 engine pushing out over 400bhp and a Graziano six-speed manual ’box, is to provide a spiritual successor to the M12 and appeal to the same customers.
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“I see it being in the same market as the M12,” Noble said. “It is an evolved version and what I would have loved the M12 to be if I were still making it.”
As with the M12, the new car will have not have anti-lock brakes, but Noble is considering a basic traction contol system. “It is exactly the same idea as the M12,” added Noble.
However, Fenix is also promising that the new car will be “amazingly practical”, with “sensible levels of refinement for road use”.
Although structurally and visually the car will be different, it will be made in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, by the same company responsible for building the M12. The first chassis is already under construction there.
Noble has formed a new company, Fenix Automotive, which will be based in Leicestershire. Complete cars will be made in South Africa, instead of part-builds like the M12, which was finished in the UK. There are no plans for a sales network; Noble will sign off each car personally and hand over the keys at Fenix’s Leicestershire headquarters.
Initially Fenix will produce around 60 or 70 cars a year, but Noble envisages a capacity of up to 500 per year when sales start in America, Japan and other overseas markets.
“I hope it will be a very successful small British car company,” said Noble.
Ollie Stallwood
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