A small, family-run British sports car maker in Crewkerne, Somerset, hand-building the Ariel Atom, Nomad and Ace motorcycle.
Ariel Motor Company is a small, family-run business in Crewkerne, Somerset, that builds lightweight performance vehicles by hand. Its best-known car is the Atom, a two-seat, mid-engine car with an exposed aluminium frame. Others include the Nomad, a road-legal off-road buggy, and the Ace motorcycle with a Honda V4 engine. The company has also announced an electric sports car concept called HIPERCAR.
Ariel was founded in 1991 by Simon Saunders, who was a transport design lecturer. He first aimed to update the Lotus Seven, and a 1996 concept led to the Atom. Production cars began in 1999. The Ariel name itself goes back to 1871 and was used for motorcycles and bikes, which Saunders revived. We did not find a formal mission statement, but managing director Henry Siebert-Saunders, Simon's son, describes the goal as "a reliable, dependable thing that you can treat like a normal car".
Ariel is based in Somerset, in a pair of red-brick barns with no sign out front, according to a magazine visit. Cars are hand-assembled one at a time in workshop bays, taking 140 to 160 hours each, and each car is signed by its assembler. About 75% of parts are British-made, including the steel frame. The company has about 30 employees and a target of around 100 cars and 30 motorcycles a year.
The company calls itself a family business and has deliberately not grown for about ten years. Henry Siebert-Saunders favours steady, sustainable growth so the business can last. Most of Ariel's customers are British. The company has faced challenges including rising electricity costs and the cost of Brexit on registrations, and it has said that it is watching how the UK's plan to end new petrol car sales applies to small makers. The Atom weighs about 600kg and early cars used Rover K-series engines before a Honda Civic Type R engine took over, and a 2004 Top Gear feature stretched waiting times from about six months to 28 months. In 2023 the company received funding to develop an electric Nomad, and the HIPERCAR name stands for High Performance Carbon Reduction.
A small team like this covers engineering, fabrication, assembly, testing, customer service and administration, often with each person doing several tasks. Ariel's own site and press interviews, such as the Hagerty feature we used, are good places to learn more.
Website: www.arielmotor.co.uk
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