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Noble announced the details of its new supercar this week, and the figures are truly impressive
. 650 bhp, 100 mph in 6.5 seconds, and 225 mph top speed all wrapped in a featherweight carbon fibre body.
The Noble M600 has been tuned to enhance the driver experience with three levels of ECU mapping offering anything from 450-650 bhp, no ABS brakes and a manual gearbox. It sounds outstanding, and with Noble's pedigree, it is sure to be an incredible car - and at around £200,000, it will need to be. But who is going to buy it? The team at Noble appear to have answered a question that no-one has asked.
Let's try and get inside the thought process of a potential buyer. Let's imagine we have £200,000 burning a hole in our pocket - £200,000 that, frankly, we don't need. So we're going to go out and buy a car, anything we like. So let's consider what else we could buy for Noble M600 money. A used Koenigsegg CC8S, perhaps, or a nearly new Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 (with change to spare)? No? OK then, what about a Caparo T1, a Ferrari 430 Scuderia, or a Porsche 911 GT2 with an Arial Atom thrown in for the odd track day. Not extreme enough? Mosler MT900, Ferrari F40 or a used Gumpert Apollo? How about a Porsche Carrera GT, the 256mph SSC Ultimate Aero, or a lightly used ex F1 car. £200,000 covers pretty much all the bases in terms of driver experience, power, performance and heritage. So why would you buy the Noble? Something different? Aren't all the above unique and extremely rare. Then let's consider the residuals, in fact, better not....
“This is a car designed to provide a pure and uncorrupted driving experience that you’re totally in control of,” says Peter Boutwood, Noble's managing director. “The driving experience we’ve targeted is closer to that of a Ferrari F40 or a McLaren F1 than those of more modern, more ‘civilised’ supercars. The M600 will do nothing on the driver’s behalf.” So the question is, why not buy the Ferrari F40?
Noble believe that there is no longer a market for a £50,000 British sports car. We can only assume that their market research has unearthed a new niche at the £200k mark. "We’re pitching the new M600 at a price point of around £200k because we believe that gives the car its ?own niche in the market. It’s uncharted territory for us, but we’re confident that the M600 is worthy of it" said Boutwood. We're sure it will be, but launching into a recession, even the prospect of a McLaren rivalling driving experience might not be enough. We wish the Noble M600 team the very best of British.
Noble M600 pictures and details
Noble M600 video
What do you think? Follow the Noble M600 debate at Pistonheads.
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