Noble M600

WOW! What a car…

Was all I could say after reading and ogling at the images of Noble M600 for more that 20 min. The streamline carbon fiber body of this sports car speaks of its light weight and high velocity. The look of the car immediately transported me to speed racing tracks and gripped my spine with the excitement of zooming from 0-100 kph in 3.5 sec.

M 600 is a ‘supercar’ designed by Noble Automotive Ltd., more commonly known as Noble. This British sports car manufacturer was established in 1999 by Mr Lee Noble. The company is known for producing high-speed sports cars with a rear mid-engine, rear-wheel drive layout. Various other beauties which are the part of product portfolio are M12 GTO, M12 GTO-3, M12 GTO-3R, Noble M400 and the latest M600.

Supporting the environmental cause, Noble Automotive offers ‘END OF LIFE’ service, where the company facilitates disposal of all its vehicles at the end of their useful life.  The collection, de-pollution and disposal in line with the Directive are arranged free of charge. Now I would say that’s a green company.

This super baby is powered by a 4.4-litre V8 Yamaha engine producing the enormous power of 650bhp at 6800 rpm (now that’s a powerful engine isn’t it) and torque of 604lb ft at 3200 rpm. Something aha! The top speed the car is estimated at 225mbh. It had a Graziano 6-speed manual transmission, (which is an absolute turn off for me when compared to Audi R8 V10 transmission box). Like all other cars manufactured by Noble, M600 is also real wheel drive.

Talking of the wheels, Noble has partnered with the Speedline to produce special wheels for M600. Made of forge aluminium alloy the front wheels are 9J X 19 and rear, 12J X 20. The Alcon, 380mm (front) and 350mm (Rear) semi floating disc with six and four piston caliper respectively adorns the wheels.

It is available in 15 different colours, ranging from white, silver, dove grey, mid grey, dark grey, black, red, orange, yellow, lime green, olive green, baby blue, mid blue, dark blue and very dark blue.

So with plenty of colour choices, M600 is prices at GBP200,000.

Sources

@noblecar.com

@autocarindia.com

@wikipedia.com

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Honda

Honda Jazz is handled by Meridian Communications, Delhi, while Dentsu Marcom handles all the other car brands under the Honda umbrella, including Accord, Civic and City.

Ford profit drops on debt payback, shares fall

Ford Motor Co posted disappointing fourth-quarter earnings after a charge for debt payments, higher costs to launch new vehicles and a loss in its European operations, sending its shares down 6.3 percent.

Excluding one-time items, Ford posted an operating profit of 30 cents per share for the fourth quarter, well below the 48 cents per share analysts had forecast on that basis.

“People now are going to expect Ford to come out with great earnings,” said Bernie McGinn, chief investment officer at McGinn Investment Management, who owns Ford shares.

“They expect Ford to come out with great cars and be able to sell these cars,” he added. “Anything that comes out that’s a tad disappointing, even if it’s a tad disappointing inside a great story, is going to be punished.”

Ford Chief Financial Officer Lewis Booth said that analysts appeared to have underestimated the additional cost of launching new vehicles like the Explorer SUV and a new model year of F-Series trucks.

In addition, Ford’s European operations, which had been expected to be profitable in the fourth quarter, posted an operating loss of $51 million as Ford’s market share in the region dropped to just below 8 percent from nearly 9 percent.

But Booth said the steps Ford had taken to pay down debt in 2010 moved the company toward its goal of returning to an investment grade credit rating.

“We’re going to continue to work on the balance sheet,” Booth told reporters. “I think the test — or the question — is when we get to investment grade,” he said.

Separately, Ford raised its forecast for North American production in the current quarter and its outlook for full-year industry sales in 2011.

Fourth-quarter net income totaled $190 million, or 5 cents per share, including a $960 million charge to pay down debt. That compares with a year-earlier profit of $886 million, or 25 cents per share.

Full-year net income was $6.6 billion, or $1.66 per share, an increase of $3.8 billion from 2009, and the biggest net profit since 1999.

Ford mortgaged most of its assets to borrow $23.5 billion in 2006, a move that allowed it to finance new product development while not having to accept the life-saving government bailouts taken by its U.S. rivals GM and Chrysler Group.

The automaker said it had reduced its debt by $14.5 billion in 2010, reducing its annual interest costs by over $1 billion.

Ford shares were down $1.21, or 6.3 percent, at $17.58.

Shares in Ford, widely considered the strongest of the U.S. automakers, had gained more than 50 percent from the end of the third quarter.

@Reuters

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