Noble Automotive Ltd, more commonly known simply as Noble, is a British sports car manufacturer based in Leicester. Noble Automotive Ltd. was established in 1999 by Lee Noble in Leeds, West Yorkshire, for producing high-speed sports cars with a rear mid-engine, rear-wheel drive layout. Lee Noble was the chief designer and part owner of Noble. The company was sold in August 2006. He left the company in February 2008 and shortly after announced his new venture, Fenix Automotive in 2009.
Noble is a low-production British sports car company, its past products include the M12 GTO, M12 GTO-3, M12 GTO-3R and Noble M400. The M12 GTO-3R and M400 share chassis and body, but have minor differences in engines and suspensions. The M15 has a new space frame chassis. The body and chassis of the Noble is built by Hi-Tech Automotive in Port Elizabeth, South Africa alongside Superformance cars. Once the body shell is completed, it is sent to the Noble factory where the engines, transmissions, etc. are added.
In 2009 Noble released the M600, a car which takes Noble into Hyper Car territory. With 650 bhp (485 kW) available from its purpose-built 4.4-litre V8 Volvo derived twin turbocharged engine with a Graziano 6 speed manual gearbox, the carbon fibre, light weight bodied car is aimed firmly at the established Ferrari/Porsche brands. The retail price is GBP 200,000.
Only 220 Noble GTO-3Rs and M400s were exported to the US. They are the only Nobles available to the American market. The US distribution rights to the M12s and M400s were sold in February 2007 to 1G Racing from Ohio. Due to high demand of these cars, 1G released its own copy, named Rossion Q1.
