An Ariel Atom 3 racy road car, seen in the Tuning Tribe tuning street in Beijing in 2015. It is a very special China-assembled Ariel Atom.
In 2007, Ariel Motor UK signed a deal with Chinese company Qingdao Ariel Auto Parts for the production of the Atom in China. At the time, the Chinese side claimed to have 200 orders for the Atom. The company was based in Jimo District in the city of Qingdao, Shandong Province.
Stickers: ramp is a Chinese car magazine. Manthey Motors is a big shop on the Tuner Tribe selling super cars, and www.arielchina was the url of the Chinese manufacturer. Just to make sure: this isn’t about the fake Alibaba Ariels that have been in the news. This is the real thing.
The website is no longer operational but still accessible via Webarchive.
The text reads: “The ARIEL ATOM III racing car of Qingdao Ariel Auto Parts was successfully rolled off the assembly line in Jimo, Qingdao last November. … … ARIEL ATOM III belongs to Qingdao Ariel Company and British Ariel company contractors, and has obtained from British Ariel [the] company’s exclusive production license and brand use rights in China. After nearly a year of hard work, we successfully trial-produced the Ariel brand car made by Chinese“. The Ariel brand also got a Chinese name: 艾瑞欧, Airui’ou.
Assembly begun around 2010. In that year, a China-made Atom was shown on a tuning show in Shenyang, Liaoning Province. Media described it as “China’s first self-produced high-performance competitive vehicle for racing enthusiasts”. That same article also reported a claim by Qingdao Ariel Auto Parts saying they sourced “80% of its parts” locally in China.
In 2012, Chinese media reported again about the China-made Ariel Atom, saying it was a track-toy only, and not allowed on the road in China. The China-spec car is fitted with the same K20Z 2.0 Honda engine as the UK car. It comes in two kinds: 225 hp base and 300 hp supercharged. These sell for 498,000 yuan and 548,000 yuan respectively.
A photo of the VIN plate. The line on top is the full name of the company: 青岛艾瑞欧汽车配件有限公司. Below that are 中国 (China) and 青岛 (Qingdao). In 2015, Chinese media said the assembly in Qingdao was done mostly by hand, with an annual production of max 100 cars per year. That number seems way too high, I don’t think they made more than a few dozen over the entire production run.
Sadly, it appears that the Qingdao company didn’t make a lot of money on their Ariel Atom project. After 2012 their website doesn’t update anymore, and by 2014 it is gone.
It is interesting too see that this particular car has head lights and rear lights seemingly intended for road use. The Atom was never approved for road use in China, it was a track-only car. A mechanic from a nearby shop told me they took it on the road sometimes, but that it wasn’t legal (:
The muffler and end pipes of the exhaust system are removed. Wheels and ‘TOW’ sticker point at action on track. Note the fog light and the reversing light.
The China-adventure for the Ariel Atom was over too soon. Back in 2007-2014 there just wasn’t enough demand for track-focused bare bones cars like the Ariel Atom. This is also why Lotus failed to catch on in China, and Morgan to a lesser extend.
Chinese customers just didn’t see the point of paying so much money for a car that can do so little. That is changing now, with track days gaining popularity everywhere in China. Ariel and its Chinese partner in Qingdao were a decade too early. Perhaps they can try again…
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