Noble M600 - onward and upward

Where's Noble at with the M600? A happy place, according to MD Pete Boutwood talking exclusively to PH

You showed a rendering of an M600 roadster a couple of years ago, now we hear that you're about to launch one...
"It's a bit premature at the moment. We're going to start building a prototype, yes - just to see how it works really. When we first mooted the idea [with the rendered image] it was pretty popular, but now we've broken into China and Taiwan and the Far East, there's a different demand.

"We're lucky the construction of our car is chassis based, so therefore a convertible is a lot easier for us. It's a pretty simple thing because the bodywork is merely a coat over a frame, so losing the roof shouldn't alter the handling or rigidity at all. Most convertibles end up heavier, but I don't think ours will."

M600 is selling solidly in Asia and UK

So what sort of roof mechanism will it have?
"A simple one! Non-power operated, but not fabric. I don't think that would be in keeping with the brand. I think it will be a similar set-up to the Aventador, a carbon targa top of sorts that you can carry with you."

And you're also planning an automated gearbox?
"One of the other interesting things about the markets we're in, especially Taiwan, is they definitely want paddleshifts. They just don't get on with manuals. It's not our normal ethos, it's fair to say, but we have to go where the market swings."

So will it be single clutch, dual clutch or torque converter?
"We're not changing the base transmission. We're using Graziano still, and we've got a car in Italy at the moment having the software done. We're using their recommendations on how to automate it, so it won't be a dual clutch. But you will get a proper paddleshift with an automatic change if wanted."

Expect to see a roadster next Spring

What are the timescales?
"We should have a working paddleshift gearbox in about six weeks. Our priority will still be the manual, but we're not the taste police - and it's worth mentioning that none of the other supercars even offer a manual 'box these days.

"As for the cabriolet, we were aiming for Geneva next year, but unfortunately the show is now full. But that's still the timescale we're looking at, so around March. We'll just find somewhere else to launch it - and it will be a prototype.

It sounds like you're selling more cars in the Far East than back home these days...
"The weird thing is we've never really gone into Europe. We're looking at that at the moment, but almost all our sales have been UK and Far East. That wasn't a deliberate plan, but we seem to be popular in Asia because we're lesser known and rarer and people want something a bit more exclusive. But all markets are open to us apart from the USA."

Boss Boutwood confirms automated gearbox

How many workers do you have now - and how many cars are you producing?
"15 employees across the board. Obviously at some point we're going to up production, especially if we do another model. In terms of production you'll have to forgive me, but we never give out actual figures. The only reason is that people keep saying "how long is your waiting list?" and if you say too long then people don't want to order, and if you say too short then people think there's something wrong with the car. So we keep all that information to ourselves; let's say that we're building all the time - we've got two cars here at the moment waiting to go to China and we're building another for the UK. There's an order book."

And are you planning to grow the range beyond the roadster and the paddleshift?
"We've got other ideas in the pipeline, which we'll obviously keep to ourselves at the moment. One thing at a time - we saw what happened to Lotus when they decided to do five. We're a tiny company, the car is popular and we're selling as many as we can make. When people say it's time for a new model my response is that our car is more like Morgan than Porsche in terms of ethos - we don't need to be changing the looks. It's not a fashion statement, it's a driving statement."

M600's structure ideal for roadster

So does this new direction mean we'll also see things like ABS and stability control coming to the range?
"That we're softening up? Hardly. We do have traction as you know, but you can suspend it totally and it takes everything off - that's how I normally drive it. Unless we're made to by Europe I really don't want ABS, sometimes people say we can't afford to do it, but it's not that at all. We don't do it because we think our brakes work really well, you can cadence brake with them. It's part of the analogue experience.

"What I can say - which is a really interesting fact - is that we've now sold quite a few cars and not one of them has ever been sold secondhand. Of every one of our owners no one's ever sold one on - I'm really proud of that. That shows that they're happy."

And remind us again how much the M600 coupe is?
"In the UK the M600 is £230,000 for painted and £270,000 for exposed carbon. It's a bit of a bargain still, but it won't be forever. When we launched it we had to establish it at a price that would be acceptable from where we were - from the M12 and M400 it was a huge leap. And it could have been a bigger leap, but we wanted to get it out there. As ridiculous as it might sound for a quarter of a million pound car, it's a bit of a bargain in relative terms."