RE: Ariel's Simon Saunders: PH Meets

RE: Ariel's Simon Saunders: PH Meets

Wednesday 5th November 2014

Ariel's Simon Saunders: PH Meets

Ariel's founder on faster Atoms and why Microsoft Excel is the enemy of the small sports car industry



Where does Ariel fit on the British Sports Car Scale of eccentricity? Your first instinct is probably to think that Somerset's native sports car maker is nowhere near as barking as some of its weirder rivals. The Atom isn't made from wood, its design can't be traced back for 60 years and the company's Crewkerne factory doesn't have any of the trappings of a Dickensian theme park. Plus there's the reassuring presence of founder and boss Simon Saunders, a man whose every pronouncement is sound common sense. In a world where owner's egos often dictate product plans he's kept his company focused, lean - and successful.

Man with the plan; Saunders has clear vision for Ariel
Man with the plan; Saunders has clear vision for Ariel
Despite which, Ariel is completely different to almost any other car company. And when you employ some rational business criteria it's almost as mad as the sort of start-ups that promise to beat Ferrari on power or Porsche around the Nurburgring.

"We're always flat-out," he says, in response to the opening question of how business is going. "We've just launched the new motorbike, so we've got to start making that at the beginning of next year, and there's a whole raft of work getting that into production. There are some more things in the pipeline too, we're beginning to employ more people. But we want to stay small, we don't want to keep growing and growing."

But isn't that what companies are meant to do? To get bigger and more profitable and diversify into other things?

Lean but not mean
"That's the accountant's view of how you should do it," Saunders admits. "You grow and grow and then sell the company and go and live in the Bahamas. But it's got no appeal to us whatsoever. We honestly don't have any aspirations to become a big company, the danger is what I call the TVR situation - you're not small enough to be small, you're not big enough to be big. It's the worst of both worlds. I've seen enough business plans in my life to see that people usually aim ludicrously high, and it's often a result of putting the numbers in to make the investment work. I really do blame Excel spreadsheets for this. If you've got to invest x million to get it up and running and you put in 50 or 100 cars a year and it doesn't work. Our aim, always, even before we started doing the Atom, was to sell 100 cars a year."

'Base' car is now in its '3.5' generation
'Base' car is now in its '3.5' generation
Which, uncoincidentally, is exactly what the company does - an annual total that's barely changed in the last decade. Each car is built up from its basic skeleton shell by one man, a process Saunders admits is deeply inefficient, but which both buyers and the company's workers like. And although the Atom has evolved constantly over the years - we're now on the 'third-and-a-half' generation - the fundamental recipe of minimal bodywork, a powerful engine and a complete lack of frippery hasn't changed at all.

Proper job
"The Atom always had to feel like a proper product," Saunders says, "there's not much on it, but what you do have is done well, beautifully built and reliable. We never wanted to make a rival for a Porsche or a Mazda MX-5, because we couldn't do that anyway, but also because we didn't want to build a car that would have a limited life, a five- or seven-year model cycle."

The Atom has got faster over the years. The limited edition V8 version - with its insane 500hp hand-built Hartley engine - was a big success, and the almost-as-rapid supercharged 3.5R is proving as popular with the brand's hardcore fans. So is the demand from existing owners and new customers always for faster versions?

3.5R is nearly as fast as the crazed V8
3.5R is nearly as fast as the crazed V8
"I think a lot of it is self inflicted, if I'm honest," Saunders says, "and it's partly your fault as well [we think he means journalists] - the new one needs to be better and that usually means it needs to be faster. And of course it's nice to win acceleration contests, 0-100s, that sort of thing... I think we're well along the law of diminishing returns, though - you have to spend a lot more time and a lot more money to make incremental improvements. It's a fine balance for us, it's not a racing car, but it is becoming an extraordinarily fast car."

Development is still continuing. Ariel recently made a titanium-tubed Atom (the same car that's now wearing Avon and Somerset police livery) which Saunders thinks is probably the biggest welded titanium structure ever produced and which is 40 per cent lighter than the steel chassis. There aren't plans for a production version - which would be punishingly expensive - but Ariel is committed to reducing weight and has even got some government research grants to help it do so. "Even to stand still you have to save weight," says Saunders. "Our new lights are much better, but they're heavier and the bracket is bigger, so somewhere you've got to take some weight out of the car just to stand still... My feeling is we've got to move with the times, even as a low-volume manufacturer. If we don't then in 20 years we're going to be making antiques, things will have moved on and left us behind."

Ace is a new twist on Ariel's bike heritage
Ace is a new twist on Ariel's bike heritage
Half the work?
The fact that every new Atom is a bespoke commission allows the company to vet its potential customers as well. "We're quite moral about these things," says Saunders, "we sometimes talk people out of superchargers for instance. We say if you're not sure, have the car without, get used to it and when you want it come back and we'll retrofit it for the same price. We're doing ourselves out of money, but we'd rather have somebody safe and enjoying themselves than put them into a car that's going to intimidate them. You have to respect an Atom like a high-powered motorbike."

Bringing us to Ariel's radical new direction. The announcement of the fully customisable Ace motorbike earlier this year came straight out of left-field, but it's a decision that makes more sense the longer you think about it, pre-Atom the Ariel brand was more associated with bikes than cars. And Saunders started his career as a designer working for motorbike companies. "Something with two wheels should be half as difficult as something with four wheels, shouldn't it?" he says. "The truth is it's about 10 times more complicated..."

What next - a limo? Maybe, jokes Saunders
What next - a limo? Maybe, jokes Saunders
Early response has been overwhelmingly positive and customers start getting theirs next year. But Saunders also says the Ace is a good indication of how the company will change in the future, potentially adding new models rather than trying to increase sales. And internal debate has started about what exactly that third model could be.

"We don't want to just build another lightweight sports car," says Saunders. "It's that traditionally British thing to do - make something and then make something else to compete with yourself. We could do something as left-field as a chauffeur driven limousine - tongue in cheek here - because it's very suitable for low-volume production, although it probably wouldn't have a zig zag frame around the outside. The idea is to make something that's suitable for our level of production and an interesting vehicle - if we can't do it really well we don't want to do it at all. We don't want to come up with something that's half-baked."

On past form, there's not much risk of that.

 

 

Author
Discussion

ManFromDelmonte

Original Poster:

2,742 posts

179 months

Wednesday 5th November 2014
quotequote all
Interesting article. He sounds like a very, very switched-on guy.

Graham

16,368 posts

283 months

Wednesday 5th November 2014
quotequote all
I never really understood the markets obsession with growth over profitability and sustainability.. its madness probably one of the reasons we had a finacial crisis

thespannerman

234 posts

122 months

Wednesday 5th November 2014
quotequote all
Aah, if only all company owners had the same mindset....

X5TUU

11,908 posts

186 months

Wednesday 5th November 2014
quotequote all
great ethos, very sensible and logical approach to business success ... healthy bottom lines that are stable and not sacrificed on the delusion of thinking you can conquer the world, this approach makes so much sense for a low volume vehicle manufacturer

I would love an Atom but lack of somewhere to keep it is my biggest sticking point and has been for a couple of years now, shame really as I would love a 3.5r

scubadude

2,618 posts

196 months

Wednesday 5th November 2014
quotequote all
That Ace bike with the trick front suspension is the first bike that's made me think about learning to ride a bike, it looks obscene.

Dave Hedgehog

14,541 posts

203 months

Wednesday 5th November 2014
quotequote all
thespannerman said:
Aah, if only all company owners had the same mindset....
especially TVR

a massive loss to all petrol heads that's never been replaced frown

MIP1983

210 posts

204 months

Wednesday 5th November 2014
quotequote all
I think they should do a single seater next, a bit like a mono.

Ruskins

221 posts

120 months

Wednesday 5th November 2014
quotequote all
How about a lightweight basic but very capable 4x4?

Vocal Minority

8,582 posts

151 months

Wednesday 5th November 2014
quotequote all
Ruskins said:
How about a lightweight basic but very capable 4x4?
Like a modern Willys Jeep? - Like your thinking

SpeckledJim

31,608 posts

252 months

Wednesday 5th November 2014
quotequote all
An Ariel take on the 2-front, 1-rear wheel car.

Ducati V-Twin engine.

High-tech alternative to the (very successful) Morgan.

Munter

31,319 posts

240 months

Wednesday 5th November 2014
quotequote all
Ruskins said:
How about a lightweight basic but very capable 4x4?
Damn it that was going to be my suggestion.

Track weapon = Check
Sports Bike = Check
Nutter 4x4 = To do

s m

23,164 posts

202 months

Wednesday 5th November 2014
quotequote all
A long way from those body kitted turbo Capris .....


oldtimer2

728 posts

132 months

Wednesday 5th November 2014
quotequote all
He has a sensible approach to his business. Contrary to what the article suggests there are, in fact, many privately owned businesses that operate successfully in their own well-defined niches.

FlossyThePig

4,083 posts

242 months

Wednesday 5th November 2014
quotequote all
Two colleagues at work were given track day experiences for birthday presents. Both came back feeling disappointed with their times with an Ariel Atom. One was restricted as to which gears to use and the other with performance compared to the BMW he drove on the same day. A shame really as they should be events to promote the product.

I don't know where they went but Mr S should kick someone hard.

redroadster

1,729 posts

231 months

Wednesday 5th November 2014
quotequote all
They have done well stood the test of time, not a low priced product but have managed to find enough buyers even though its a very niche product, I,ve only seen one on the road and he was giving it the beans I like the atom but would not buy one.

samoht

5,633 posts

145 months

Wednesday 5th November 2014
quotequote all
oldtimer2 said:
He has a sensible approach to his business. Contrary to what the article suggests there are, in fact, many privately owned businesses that operate successfully in their own well-defined niches.
Oh sure, there just aren't that many car manufacturers that do so.
Morgan is one, arguably Caterham is another, can you think of any more?

Vocal Minority

8,582 posts

151 months

Wednesday 5th November 2014
quotequote all
FlossyThePig said:
I don't know where they went but Mr S should kick someone hard.
Playing Devil's advocate I would tell him to p1ss off - 'I didn't pay YOU to advertise YOUR product, stop telling me how to use MY cars'.

I expect several of his 100 sales a year are to those companies - I really wouldn't want to piss them off.

moribund

4,030 posts

213 months

Wednesday 5th November 2014
quotequote all
Graham said:
I never really understood the markets obsession with growth over profitability and sustainability.. its madness probably one of the reasons we had a finacial crisis
I wish more on PH thought like this - see every single Lotus thread where everyone thinks Lotus should produce a £15k MX5 competitor...clueless.

T1GTD

66 posts

123 months

Wednesday 5th November 2014
quotequote all
Either a chunky funky 4 x 4 or a left field approach to the camper van

Kolbenkopp

2,343 posts

150 months

Wednesday 5th November 2014
quotequote all
moribund said:
I wish more on PH thought like this - see every single Lotus thread where everyone thinks Lotus should produce a £15k MX5 competitor...clueless.
Don't think that is clueless, Lotus are definitely in that TVR situation but also a much bigger outfit. Either grow out of it somehow, or shrink back to Ariel/Caterham size and fire a lot of people. Agree that a 15k reborn Elan is pretty impossible to pull off though, there are more realistic options.

Mr. Saunders is obviously very smart to avoid getting in the situation in the first place. What I really like is that Ariel seems very engineering driven. They make a product they can stand behind 100% and don't have to compromise on it because they don't let the accountants take over. Great!

Liked the interview *a lot*. Well done Mike, thanks!