Autocar January 12, 2022

NEW CAR SALES in 2021 were held back by crippling supply shortages (p16). Yet given the pace of change in the industry, who’s to say some of the implausible things in the sales charts may not have ended up happening anyway? The Ford Fiesta had been Britain’s best-selling car for over a decade, but last year it didn’t even make the top 10. With no electric version in sight and Ford so focused on crossovers, will the Fiesta ever return to the top? Then there’s Tesla, which in December was Britain’s best-selling car maker. Given its unstoppable growth, why should this be written off as a flash in the pan? Stalwarts of the mid-market Citroën, Fiat and Mazda all recorded growth last year, yet put them all together and they were still…

The striking new Noble M500 is the British supercar maker’s long-awaited followup to the acclaimed M600, which arrived in 2009. First shown as a concept at the 2018 Goodwood Festival of Speed and developed into this working prototype since, the M500 is a cheaper and less powerful car than the M600 that it effectively replaces as the company’s sole offering. Dynamic testing has just begun, and in an exclusive interview and unveiling with Autocar, Noble said that first customer deliveries will get under way this year. Like the M600, the M500 is a two-seat, mid-engined supercar built around a steel chassis. But instead of a twin-turbocharged Volvo V8, it runs a twin-turbocharged 3.5-litre Ford V6, as deployed in the Blue Oval’s GT supercar. As standard, the engine makes a little more than 500bhp and…

Twenty years ago, there was a golden opportunity for ‘grassroots supercars’ – primarily those from Noble and TVR, but also some from Marcos and Ultima and even Caterham and Lotus – to make their opposite numbers from blue-chip exotic brands like Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche look a bit silly. Now, however, that task looks so much harder that I wonder if it’s even possible. At the turn of the 21st century, the Ferrari 360 Modena made less than 400bhp and weighed little under 1500kg. Designing a spaceframe alternative to it that might be 20% lighter wasn’t a huge stretch; and with the value of sterling strong, fitting it with a turbo engine (or a Chevrolet small-block V8) that made more power and considerably more torque wasn’t hard, either. Do both things…

1999 British car designer and engineer Lee Noble launches his eponymous sports car firm, having previously designed Ultima’s early models. Its first car, the M10 convertible, uses a naturally aspirated 2.5-litre V6 with 166bhp. 2000 The better-known and bigger-selling M12 arrives to cement Noble as an established sports car brand. Power – up to 425bhp of it in the top-rung M400 variant – is supplied by a twin-turbo Ford V6, while a radical fibreglass body helps to make weight and price as competitive as possible. 2004 A prototype of the M12’s successor, the M14, is revealed at the British motor show, but high development costs put a stop to production. It will be followed in 2006 by the heavily re-engineered M15. 2008 Lee Noble leaves Noble Automotive and sets up a new venture, Fenix Automotive. His original…

BAC Mono R The hardcore new Mono R is claimed to be faster, more powerful, lighter and keener-handling than the already formidable Mono. A £190,950 list price puts it on a par with fully fledged supercars, but there really is nothing else like it. Ultima RS Few cars simultaneously bring Bugatti Veyron-beating power, wear a numberplate at each end and cost the same as the BMW M3. Ultima’s most powerful model yet uses a Chevrolet V8 tuned to 1200bhp to sprint from 0-60mph in just 2.3sec and on to a top speed north of 250mph. Wells Vertige Developed by and exclusively for driving enthusiasts, the Vertige from new firm Wells is a lightweight two-seater with 208bhp and equal focus on dynamics and usability. It will be built in extremely limited numbers but cost just £40,000.…

COLOUR-CHANGING PAINT The BMW iX Flow featuring E Ink is the first car whose paint colour can be changed at the touch of a button. Head of the project Stella Clarke said that “by changing the colour of the car, we’re bringing personalisation to unforeseen levels”. She added: “We also see a lot of benefits from a usability and sustainability viewpoint.” The changing colour can make the EV more efficient by taking into account light and dark colours in relation to reflecting sunlight and the absorption of thermal energy. BMW explained: “A white surface reflects a lot more sunlight than a black one. Heating the vehicle and passenger compartment as a result of strong sunlight and high temperatures can be reduced by changing the exterior to a light colour. In cooler weather, a dark…