Honda and Ariel Motor Company have renewed their exclusive engine supply deal for the Atom and the Nomad, just as the 1,500th Honda-powered Atom rolled off the assembly line in Somerset.
This agreement goes back 16 years and will continue to see the Atom use a supercharged Civic Type R engine, while the new off-road Nomad will also continue to be powered by the Civic 2.4-liter iVTEC unit.
The faster of the two is of course the Atom – powered by either a 310 BHP or 350 BHP supercharged Honda unit. It’s these types of numbers that allow for a 0 to 60 mph (96 km/h) acceleration of less than 2.7 seconds, as well as a top speed of over 155 mph (250 km/h).
“Our customers are hugely passionate about driving so the engine is everything,” says Ariel founder Simon Saunders. “When we tell new customers that it’s a Honda they simply nod and move on to the next question. They just know that it works. Switching to Honda engines is one of the best decisions that we’ve ever made. It’s a brand that can’t be matched for performance and bulletproof reliability and we’re delighted that this success is set to continue well into the future.”
Aside from the custom-built Atom and the new off-road Nomad, Ariel recently introduced the Mad Max-worthy Ace motorcycle, which of course is also exclusively powered by Honda – specifically a 173 BHP V6 1,237cc unit, which leads to a top speed of 165 mph (265 km/h).
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