And if you’re wondering who Lee Noble is, you’ll be interested to learn that he has been designing and manufacturing cars for three decades, almost all of them hardcore machines focused on pure driving pleasure. The first of them, the Ultima, was used as the test mule for none other than the McLaren F1.
Not forgetting his previous company, Fenix Automotive's boss pitches the new supercar as a "natural, but even more focused" successor to his Noble M12
"The M12 was hugely successful, but we needed to move the game on in terms of design," said Lee. "The new car's styling owes nothing to what I've done before and has quite literally been a 'clean sheet' exercise from the start. It's edgy, with powerful lines, and aerodynamically will be in another league to any of my previous cars."
Fenix said that the car will tip the scales at around 1,200 kg or about 2,645 lbs estimating that the LS9-engined version should accelerate from 0-100mph (160km/h) in under seven seconds and reach a top speed close to 200mph or 322 km/h.
"Our first prototype is now in build and development will start in around one month's time," said Lee.
"We'll be hot-weather testing the first prototype on the mountain roads around Port Elizabeth, South Africa, where the car will be manufactured. But I'm itching to get the car back to the UK where I can set it up on roads I know well," he concluded.
Remember Shuanghuan Automobile's Noble, the Chinese minicar that blatantly copies the design of the previous Smart Fortwo? Well, the Noble has made its appearance in several European countries including Greece where Smart's parent company, Daimler, naturally decided to take the importer, 'China Motors', to court in order to block the sale of the car in the Mediterranean country on the basis that infringes its design copyright for the ForTwo. Easy decision, right? Wrong...
Believe it or not, according to China Motors, a Greek court in Piraeus has just dismissed Daimler's claim on the basis that "an informed buyer would not confuse the Noble with the Smart Fortwo."
The judgment goes on to say that "it is commonly acknowledged that a decision to buy a car should not depend solely on the vehicle's exterior styling, but also on the technical features such as the automobile's engine."
In this aspect, China Motors said that the court took into consideration the fact that the Noble differs significantly in technical specifications from the Smart Fortwo as it is longer (3meters vs 2.5meters), it has two extra seats at the back and it incorporates a front-mounted engine sending power to the front wheels whereas the Fortwo has a rear-mounted engine that drives the rear wheels.
As for the styling similarities, the court ruled that they are "the result of their common nature", referring to the fact they belong to the same category of vehicles (minicars)!
In other words, according to the Piraeus court's reason, Chinese automakers can sell any clone they want in Greece as long as the technical specifications differ from the original product. Yep, we're pretty much convinced by now that for this particular judge, the MacPherson strut and Ellie MacPherson's butt are one in the same...
According to China Motors, the Noble will go on sale in Greece sometime during the second half of the year.
