Lee Noble Teases New Fenix Supercar, gets Corvette LS3 and ZR1 Powerplants

Lee Noble, former owner (until 2006) and boss (until 2008) of Noble Automotive, has released the first teaser photos of his new supercar venture with Fenix Automotive. The two-seater supercar will be fully revealed in a couple of months and first go on sale in the UK in the second half of the year. The lightweight supercar will be offered with a choice of two Corvette engines: the 480bhp LS3 V8 and the ZR1's the 6.2-litre supercharged LS9 V8 with 638bhp.

Not forgetting his previous company, Fenix Automotive's boss pitches the new supercar as a "natural, but even more focused" successor to his Noble M12

"The M12 was hugely successful, but we needed to move the game on in terms of design," said Lee. "The new car's styling owes nothing to what I've done before and has quite literally been a 'clean sheet' exercise from the start. It's edgy, with powerful lines, and aerodynamically will be in another league to any of my previous cars."

Fenix said that the car will tip the scales at around 1,200 kg or about 2,645 lbs estimating that the LS9-engined version should accelerate from 0-100mph (160km/h) in under seven seconds and reach a top speed close to 200mph or 322 km/h.

"Our first prototype is now in build and development will start in around one month's time," said Lee.

"We'll be hot-weather testing the first prototype on the mountain roads around Port Elizabeth, South Africa, where the car will be manufactured. But I'm itching to get the car back to the UK where I can set it up on roads I know well," he concluded.

READ MORE - Lee Noble Teases New Fenix Supercar, gets Corvette LS3 and ZR1 Powerplants

Noble assigns US rights to past models M12 and M400 to Ohio’s 1g Racing

Now that’s a surprise. British sports car company Noble, has sold the manufacturing rights for its discontinued M12 and M400 models to its American distributor, 1gRacing. The Ohio based company will continue the production of the two models (probably in the US) but under an agreement between the two companies, 1gRacing will have to re-badge and re-name the cars by July 15th 2007. According to a statement by Noble’s owner, Lee Noble, the British company will now concentrate all of its attention on the development of the new M15. -Continued: Click “Read More…” below to check out the official press release

Via: Autocar & Noble

PRESS RELEASE: Retaining full rights to the car in the UK and control over the use of trademarks and naming, Noble Automotive has agreed to assign the manufacturing rights to the M12/400 series vehicle to 1g Racing. The assignment allows 1g, based in Hamilton Ohio, USA, to continue production of the vehicle which is still in demand in the USA and elsewhere.

Under the terms of the agreement, 1g is required to re-badge and re-name the car by July 15th 2007, and is permitted to modify the vehicle to suit the needs of the g1 customer.

In a statment, Lee Noble said:

'The M12 has been a very successful model for Noble Automotive and we have learned much from it. Our new model will be a big step forward and this will leave no room in our line up for the M12/400 as we need to coneentrate all of our attention on the development of our new model. However we will remain committed to all Noble owners, and will maintain the supply of all M12 and M400 parts for our owners and dealers.'

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READ MORE - Noble assigns US rights to past models M12 and M400 to Ohio’s 1g Racing