RE: Interview: Lee Noble / Fenix Automotive

RE: Interview: Lee Noble / Fenix Automotive

Author
Discussion

Gadgeroonie

5,362 posts

235 months

Tuesday 24th November 2009
quotequote all
i personally hope its a turbocharged engine

the different levels of power could be achieved with different boost levels

Antj

1,041 posts

199 months

Wednesday 25th November 2009
quotequote all
well he's already admitted in other interviews its a V8,

my first through was LS 1,2 or 3 .However he hasalways raved on about the Ford GT and how good a car that is, so weight is obviously not a major concern. Plus its all being built entirely in South Africa this time,

so my guess is Chevy short block in one form or another or ford modular V8. The hint is in the part that says you can upgrade from 400-600 bhp. Which would mean NA then supercharged versions.

In fact boith have huge history but i'm gonna pluck ford modular as it still ships cheaply in crate version,.

Pesty

42,655 posts

255 months

Friday 1st January 2010
quotequote all
Is there any chance he is using the same Volvo V8 as the Noble?

That would certainly piss on their chips

Niffty951

Original Poster:

2,333 posts

227 months

Friday 1st January 2010
quotequote all
I've got to admit after reading Evo's car of the year with the Noble 600 my respect and desire to own one did increase drematically. It was probably the most 'me' car on the test and summed up by one line which reminded me very much of my Cerbera 'the acceleration of the car is insane but once you've stopped yoyo'ing up to speed in a straight line enjoying the emense power. The biggest surprise was to find just how well the car handled.' I'm writing that out from memory rather than word for word but you get the idea.

My only problem with the car (and its a big one) is the stupid price tag! You can't charge the customer for the development of the car otherwise a Golf would cost £100,000. You have to fit a price to the product.

I don't think anyone (who doesn't own one or can't drive one without getting out their cheque book like magazine testers) is going to look at the home built Brit garage look Noble with its utilitarian interior and simple design and think Wow what a beautifully sculptured supercar! I'll have that instead of the Lamborghini, Ferrari, Mclaren, Porsche, Aston Martin. It's a weekend toy / trackday car for petrolheads. Sure a great one but even Porsche would dare charge over £100,000 for that and look at their product! Can't argure the value of a GT3.

If Lee Noble really does manage to build a similar product to replace the gaping hole left by TVR in the world market as a disproporionately fast British sports car for his desired £70k THAT to me would be everything the N600 isn't, and I don't care in the slightest if it can't trump the spec list.

Edited by Niffty951 on Friday 1st January 13:50

egomeister

6,698 posts

262 months

Friday 1st January 2010
quotequote all
Niffty951 said:
My only problem with the car (and its a big one) is the stupid price tag! You can't charge the customer for the development of the car otherwise a Golf would cost £100,000. You have to fit a price to the product.
How else do you price a car if you don't charge the customer for the development?

HeavySoul

9,149 posts

218 months

Friday 1st January 2010
quotequote all
Pesty said:
Is there any chance he is using the same Volvo V8 as the Noble?

That would certainly piss on their chips
I doubt that would happen for various legal and IP related reasons. The final development on the Volvo unit was done exclusively for Noble Automotive by that Amercian company anyway IIRC so the standard Volvo unit itself is not really sport car centered.



Edited by HeavySoul on Friday 1st January 17:11

Pesty

42,655 posts

255 months

Friday 1st January 2010
quotequote all
Niffty951 said:
I've got to admit after reading Evo's car of the year with the Noble 600 my respect and desire to own one did increase drematically. It was probably the most 'me' car on the test and summed up by one line which reminded me very much of my Cerbera 'the acceleration of the car is insane but once you've stopped yoyo'ing up to speed in a straight line enjoying the emense power. The biggest surprise was to find just how well the car handled.' I'm writing that out from memory rather than word for word but you get the idea.

My only problem with the car (and its a big one) is the stupid price tag! You can't charge the customer for the development of the car otherwise a Golf would cost £100,000. You have to fit a price to the product.

I don't think anyone (who doesn't own one or can't drive one without getting out their cheque book like magazine testers) is going to look at the home built Brit garage look Noble with its utilitarian interior and simple design and think Wow what a beautifully sculptured supercar! I'll have that instead of the Lamborghini, Ferrari, Mclaren, Porsche, Aston Martin. It's a weekend toy / trackday car for petrolheads. Sure a great one but even Porsche would dare charge over £100,000 for that and look at their product! Can't argure the value of a GT3.

If Lee Noble really does manage to build a similar product to replace the gaping hole left by TVR in the world market as a disproporionately fast British sports car for his desired £70k THAT to me would be everything the N600 isn't, and I don't care in the slightest if it can't trump the spec list.

Edited by Niffty951 on Friday 1st January 13:50
well said

sorry
+1


egomeister said:
How else do you price a car if you don't charge the customer for the development?
I imagine (my code for outright guess) that you have a plan to get a return on you investment at a certain point. After say 100 cars or whatever. from then on its pure profit.

I guess ROI plans are driven by any onvestors who may want a quick return. Problem is if they have got their sums wrong this quick return may put off customers and the whole thing could go tits up.

I guess its a really fine ballance.



Edited by Pesty on Friday 1st January 18:10

fatbutt

2,631 posts

263 months

Friday 1st January 2010
quotequote all
egomeister said:
Niffty951 said:
My only problem with the car (and its a big one) is the stupid price tag! You can't charge the customer for the development of the car otherwise a Golf would cost £100,000. You have to fit a price to the product.
How else do you price a car if you don't charge the customer for the development?
You amortise your development costs over a set period of time. You can't price a car without taking into account the market. Its well known that Toyota lost money on pretty much every Prius built due to the horrendous development costs, but they take a very very long term view in their business plan.

HeavySoul

9,149 posts

218 months

Friday 1st January 2010
quotequote all
fatbutt said:
egomeister said:
Niffty951 said:
My only problem with the car (and its a big one) is the stupid price tag! You can't charge the customer for the development of the car otherwise a Golf would cost £100,000. You have to fit a price to the product.
How else do you price a car if you don't charge the customer for the development?
You amortise your development costs over a set period of time. You can't price a car without taking into account the market. Its well known that Toyota lost money on pretty much every Prius built due to the horrendous development costs, but they take a very very long term view in their business plan.
Agreed, of course any small manufacturer does not have the resources of someone like Toyota and it must be incredibly hard to set the correct price against try to guess the future.

From the little I know of Dyson, he seems to have a large business interests elsewhere so presume he is pretty secure in the medium term to shore up some of the large initial costs of development/building.

What would you say the life cycle on a car like the M600 is? Four/five years?

zakelwe

4,449 posts

197 months

Saturday 2nd January 2010
quotequote all
Now confirmed as the normal and supercharged LS3/9.

Andy

Edited by zakelwe on Saturday 2nd January 11:37

HeavySoul

9,149 posts

218 months

Saturday 2nd January 2010
quotequote all
zakelwe said:
Now confirmed as the normal and supercharged LS3/9.

Andy

Edited by zakelwe on Saturday 2nd January 11:37
Where did you see that?

Niffty951

Original Poster:

2,333 posts

227 months

Sunday 3rd January 2010
quotequote all
HeavySoul said:
fatbutt said:
egomeister said:
Niffty951 said:
My only problem with the car (and its a big one) is the stupid price tag! You can't charge the customer for the development of the car otherwise a Golf would cost £100,000. You have to fit a price to the product.
How else do you price a car if you don't charge the customer for the development?
You amortise your development costs over a set period of time. You can't price a car without taking into account the market. Its well known that Toyota lost money on pretty much every Prius built due to the horrendous development costs, but they take a very very long term view in their business plan.
Agreed, of course any small manufacturer does not have the resources of someone like Toyota and it must be incredibly hard to set the correct price against try to guess the future.

From the little I know of Dyson, he seems to have a large business interests elsewhere so presume he is pretty secure in the medium term to shore up some of the large initial costs of development/building.

What would you say the life cycle on a car like the M600 is? Four/five years?
I agree 100% with the difficulties faced by a small company but they have found the money upfront (obviously as they have to have developed the car before they can start selling them - cough M14) so I think there would be a strong argument to put to the investors that by pricing the car competitively and covering the build cost plus a percentage they would massively widen their market. Not only for that car but it would pave the way for future models. I mean lets face it, if it wasn't for the M12 the M600 would be 'just' another shed made supercar, it would never have had the world wide media attention it's currently benefitting from. The M600 does not appear expensive to make (please correct me if I'm wrong) I think by pricing it in the £60-80k region to compete with the likes of th Evora and base 911 undercutting the next bracket of long established performance cars would have concreted the foundations for Noble as a real contender in the market. Perhaps the man himself will have more luck, I wish him all the best.

zakelwe

4,449 posts

197 months

Monday 4th January 2010
quotequote all
HeavySoul said:
zakelwe said:
Now confirmed as the normal and supercharged LS3/9.

Andy

Edited by zakelwe on Saturday 2nd January 11:37
Where did you see that?
Evo magazine with Lee himself.

Andy

HeavySoul

9,149 posts

218 months

Monday 4th January 2010
quotequote all
zakelwe said:
HeavySoul said:
zakelwe said:
Now confirmed as the normal and supercharged LS3/9.

Andy

Edited by zakelwe on Saturday 2nd January 11:37
Where did you see that?
Evo magazine with Lee himself.

Andy
Got mine this morning wink

philbennett

144 posts

192 months

Monday 20th January 2014
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Been over 4 years since that was written.. anything ever happen?

I saw this in 2010 http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyI...

and this in 2012 http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyI...

Are they for sale, working, etc?