Wednesday 11th November 2009

Ariel Atom 500 Will Cost £120,000

Ultimate lightweight to pack heavyweight (but on-target) price tag

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Ariel has told Autocar that its upcoming V8-powered Atom 500 will cost £120,000.

Ariel boss Simon Saunders previously told PH that the company aimed to keep the list price below £135k and, as the car reaches the final stages of development and testing, Ariel appears to have achieved its goal.

While this price still seems pretty astronomical for something so tiny, the Atom 500 will have around 1000bhp per ton available with the aid of its hand-assembled V8, and each individual car is expected to take 4-6 weeks to build.

The cost also covers the upgraded gearbox, brakes, suspension and aerodynamic parts needed to help cope with the massive power hike, and Saunders has previously suggested to PH that a performance handling day will be included in the pricetag to give a similar 'performance upgrade' to the new owner.

Evidently at least 19 people think it's worth the money, as Autocar also reports that only 6 of the 25 build slots for the Atom 500 are still available, ahead of production in the spring.

[Insight]

You could argue that this car is the pinnicle of engineering that the old MacLaren F1 was.

In which case, it's worth every penny.

[peterattheboro]

I understand the amount of work which has gone into this but still, £120,000 is a hell of a lot of money for some scaffolding and a V8 engine.

I'm sure some clever geeky car type could build a similar car for a quarter of the price?

[Mini1275]

I live 5 minutes walk from the factory, might go and have a look in the spring. It looks

[gj88]

I know this car will be stupidly quick but I cant help but feel that the pricetag is crazy. It will sell of course but 120k?

[Jonboy_t]

I WANT ONE, NOWWWW!

I wouldn't say the pinnacle of engineering though. It's an awesome machine, granted, but there's plenty of enthusiastic car builders that could get hold of some scaffolding and dump a decent V8 into it, probably at a fraction of the cost whereas the Mclaren F1 is, well, a Mclaren F1!

I won't argue with the fact that it is set to be one hell of a car though!!

[Soovy]

Bonkers

[Gary C]

Seems a stupid amount of money for such a minimal car, is it design costs or component costs that makes it so high ?

An old F1 or F3000 would be an interesting comparison.

[CAD Monkey]

Why are we argueing about the price, this is Piston Heads 'Speed Matters'

Its mad as box of frogs, i love it!

[nelly_h]

At £120k that's about as niche as it's possible to get.

Still great job if they can sell them all, and assuming they don't lose money on the 25 they make the publicity won't hurt the standard offering.

Good work

[Burba]

I reckon once they can get it on track and post some relative lap times in comparison with other machinery, you'll really be able to tell if this is a complete package or not - something I'm not sure a DIY'er could obtain accurately?

[Garlick]

Jonboy_t said:

I WANT ONE, NOWWWW!

I wouldn't say the pinnacle of engineering though. It's an awesome machine, granted, but there's plenty of enthusiastic car builders that could get hold of some scaffolding and dump a decent V8 into it, probably at a fraction of the cost whereas the Mclaren F1 is, well, a Mclaren F1!

I won't argue with the fact that it is set to be one hell of a car though!!

I realise that you probably didn't mean exactly what you wrote, but I have to step in and say that an Atom is a fantastic piece of engineering - far more that some 'scaffolding'

[ewenm]

gj88 said:

I know this car will be stupidly quick but I cant help but feel that the pricetag is crazy. It will sell of course but 120k?

Indeed it will sell, just like all 8 Caterham Levantes sold out at £115k. There is a market for the ultimate iteration of some cars and well done to Ariel for making the most of it.

[peterattheboro]

£25,000 - http://pistonheads.com/sales/1062916.htm

No idea how much an engine is, £5000-£10000?

Should come in way below £120,000.

And while you are fiddling, you have enough money left over to strap on some forced induction

Now THAT would be fun!

[ceebmoj]

if you have not seen it before have a look at http://www.dpcars.net/ there is a good build diary where a guy puts one in an atom and allot of other cool stuff as well

[Wayney]

£120k sounds shocking at first!! But I say to Atom, justify your sky high price & put on the Ring & lets see how much of that 1000 bhp/ton is put to good use?

[thewheelman]

Wow! That's a hell of alot of money,loved my Atom but not to the tune of £120k

[Animal]

http://www.race-cars.com/carsales/other/1231256953...

How about these two instead - and some change too!

[HereBeMonsters]

Quicker than a Caparo?

[johnag007]

How sad, Noble at £200k, Atom at £120k. What I do not understand is that even yesterday Evo described the Atom 300 as fun and so forth but with a surplus of power over chassis. You really risk making this completely undrivable, or at least without any springs for the road.

Of course commercially if he has already sold 19 out of 26, no one can accuse him of lacking business sense. Noble I fear might not be so lucky.

[PhillipM]

peterattheboro said:

£25,000 - http://pistonheads.com/sales/1062916.htm

No idea how much an engine is, £5000-£10000?

Should come in way below £120,000.

And while you are fiddling, you have enough money left over to strap on some forced induction

Now THAT would be fun!

Try more like £25k for the engine, plus new suspension, bodywork bits, labour, mountings, gearbox, ancillaries, wiring loom, new ECU, reworked intake design, new exhaust system, catalysts, plus a fair but of mapping...

Edited by PhillipM on Wednesday 11th November 13:19