Up until  now, Noble has been marketing a serious of raw, hardcore sports cars for people who don’t care about badges.  The M12 (and the GTO, GTO-3R, etc) were plastic-bodied mid engine rocket ships, powered by a twin-turbocharged version of Ford’s 3.0L Duratec 24v V6 (found in the old Mondeo ST220), making 400-450bhp.  Car & Driver said the M12 GTO offered Ferrari Enzo performance for Porsche 911 prices, which really sums it up – 0-60 in the mid three’s, more than 1.0G of lateral acceleration, and a 170mph top speed.  They introduced the M15 in 2006, which built on the M12 formula, but mixed in a bit more refinement with the 911-bashing performance.  Still, despite the superlative performance, the M12 and M15 were always a bit rough around the edges – ready to bite your hand off, or blow up, at any moment.

But like all companies, Noble has big ambitions.  They’ve just released details on their newest car, called the M600, and it’s the physical manifestation of Noble’s big dreams.  This time, they’re not just settling for being as fast as Ferrari’s for a quarter the price – with the M600, they’re aiming directly for Ferrari.  And if the performance specs are to believed, the M600 will leave an F430 in it’s dust.

In keeping with Noble’s tradition of extracting huge power from an unassuming power plant, the M600 has an engine from a Volvo. Don’t laugh.  The 4.4L V8, which is used in the XC90 SUV and the S80 luxo-barge, is fitted with twin Garrett turbochargers, boosting maximum output from 311bhp (yawn) to a maximum of 650bhp (that’s more like it!)  What’s interesting is that Noble has fitted the M600 with a “variable boost” dial, allowing you to chose from low output (450bhp), medium (550bhp), or the full monty (650bhp.)  Quite why someone would set it to low is beyond me – a valet or a stupid teenager can still kill themselves completely dead with 450bhp.  Torque output is equally impressive, at 618lb-ft.

Now, a horseload of horsepower is always a good thing, but it’s even better when it’s coupled to low weight.  Noble gets this, and they’ve gone to lengths to keep the weight down.  Body panels are made of carbon fiber composite, and the chassis is a stainless tube frame affair with an integrated tub.  So despite having that heavy, complicated V8 out back, the M600 weighs about as much as a third generation RX7 – Noble quotes weight at 2,810 lbs .

If that sounds like a recipe for alarming acceleration, you’d be right.  Factory claims for the M600 are a 3.0 second 0-60mph time, a 6.5 second 0-100mph time, and 225 mph flat-out.  That should do it.

Like all other Nobles that preceeded it, the M600 has an emphasis placed on driver involvement.  This means that the Traction Control system is fully defeatable, there’s no ESP or ABS (why not ABS?), and the driver changes gears the way god intended – with a clutch pedal and a six speed manual.  Sounds great to me.

All this performance doesn’t come cheap, though.  The expected price for the M600 will be £200,000 (about $330,00 USD), which is well more than double the price of Noble’s previous most expensive model, the M15.  I find the styling isn’t quite up to mainstream supercar standards (it’s an odd mix of Koenigsegg and Corvette to me), but the performance certainly speaks for itself.  The M600 makes its public debut at the Goowood Revival (September 19-21, 2009) and more details – and hopefully some better pictures – should be coming soon.  I’m excited!

Volvo really, really wants to establish a strong foothold in the luxury crossover SUV market. As I’ve said before, the segment is shaping up to be a big battleground between the luxury automakers.

Proof comes that they mean business with this price tag. At $32,395 the XC60 undercuts every competitor. Mercedes-Benz GLK, Cadillac SRX, Audi Q5, BMW X3; all of them. I wonder if they were waiting on Cadillac’s pricing of the SRX?

To be quite honest each one of the mentioned offerings are very appealing. I would take (and like) any one of them, so pricing could be even more of a consideration for buyers trying to decide between them.  

This pricing is for the new 3.2L base model, alongside the previous standard 3.0L T6 turbocharged engine. The 3.2L engine also does duty in the S80 as the standard powerplant.