Honda have announced their renewed partnership with Ariel, with the Somerset based brand celebrating it's 1,500th Atom rolling off the production line it's 16 year lifespan. Honda have been supplying Ariel with engines used in the Honda Civic Type R, which is capable of giving the Atom a whopping 350 bhp. This means this lightweight Brit has a top speed of over 155 mph and is one of the fastest accelerating cars you can buy.
You may think that 1,500 is a low number of production over 16 years but each Atom is handmade and takes arouund 100-200 hours to complete by the crew of only eight highly skilled technicians. No two Atoms ar the same either as each one is made to order and comes with plenty of configurartion options. As you can imagine the majority of them are mechanical rather than for styling as there Atom doesn't have much bodywork to customise! One of the options is to up the standard horsepower from 245 bhp to 310 or even 350 if you are feeling brave!
However, if you are looking for something a bit more 'outdoorsy' then look no further than the Ariel Nomad which features the same Honda 2.4 litre unit but a lower speed of 125 mph. The 0-60 time is still lightening quick though of a time of 3.4 seconds. Autocar refer to the Nomad as "Atom's mucky brother" and it's essentially a dirt buggy that offers Atom acceleration but with off road usability. Like the Atom it can be made to order and unique to the customer's requirements.
Phillip Crossman, managing director for Honda UK described the brands a "perfect match" and says the brand "look forward to continuing this successful partnership for many years to come.”