Ariel
The English company "Ariel" was founded in 2001. Nevertheless, the history of the company began much earlier, or rather two centuries before the Ariel Atom model was introduced.
It all began in 1899, when the Coventry Estate, an English bicycle factory, produced several experimental models of self-propelled carriages. The wagons were built on the same principle as the first Renault models, with one exception - they did not require the use of a gearbox. However, the model did not go into the series, and the factory concentrated on bicycles.
However, in 1925, after the First World War, a motorcycle project was developed, which was named Ariel. Field tests have shown its high efficiency in off-road conditions and ease of repair work. The army ordered 50 trial copies, but after the release of BMW motorcycles, it was decided to create a worthy competitor. Development continued until 1939, and it was planned that the new motorcycle would go into service with the army in 1940, but the German blockade forced an urgent reorientation of production for the assembly of trucks and aircraft engines.
The factory was completely destroyed already in 1941, and no production was possible. However, 14 years later, after the first division of British Leyland, the plant was rebuilt by the British government, which needed a non-privately owned supplier of engines and trucks for the army. So the plant worked until 1963, when it was bought for a pittance by a large bank, which planned to create a response to the popular Rover Mk II car.
Engineers from the "Ford" company were hired, who turned out to be dishonest, offering to the production of exact copies of cars developed by the Americans. The lawsuits hit the company's budget seriously and it was closed.
Years later, Ariel was reborn in 2001. This was due to a project by an English college student who designed a light sports car, following the Caterham 7 idea. The main advantage was the use of a standard Honda Civic engine coupled with a lightweight carbon body that provided a power-to-weight ratio of 620 horsepower per tonne. And the acceleration to 100 kilometers per hour was only 3 seconds. In addition, after a successful start of sales, a more powerful version of the Ariel Atom 500 was developed, the characteristics of which reached 900 horsepower per ton, which is one and a half times higher than that of the Bugatti Veyron.