Honda and UK’s Ariel Motor Company have renewed their 16-year strong exclusive engine supply agreement which sees the Ariel Atom powered by the Civic Type R engine, and the new off-road Ariel Nomad by the Civic 2.4L unit.
Since 2003, Ariel has been using as standard the Civic Type R’s 2.0 litre naturally aspirated engine to power its flagship Atom and now, with the K-series 2.4 litre unit, the new off-road Nomad. Atom base models use an off the shelf K20Z to offer 245 bhp with an Ariel-tuned ECU and exhaust, or supercharged to either 310 bhp or 350 bhp for 0-60 mph (0-96 km/h) below 2.7 seconds.
The news comes as the two brands celebrate the 1500th Honda-powered Ariel roaring out of the small factory in Somerset, where just eight technicians spend 100-200 hours handcrafting one vehicle each at a time, from start to finish. Each Ariel is made to order and there are thousands of possible configurations.
“Our customers are hugely passionate about driving so the engine is everything. 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,” said Ariel’s founder Simon Saunders.
“With the engine such a key factor, it’s a huge endorsement for Honda that Ariel chooses ours over others, and we look forward to continuing this successful partnership for many years to come,” said Philip Crossman, MD of Honda UK.
As well as custom-building the Atom and the new off-road Nomad, Ariel recently introduced the Ace motorcycle, which is also exclusively powered by Honda. Under the cowling of each Ariel Ace sits a V4 1,237 cc Honda unit with 173 bhp.
GALLERY: Ariel Ace
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honda’s engine is one of the most reliable that you could find..so good decision by Atom..