Ariel Looking to Electrify the Already-Electric Atom

Ariel Atom 3.5R (Credit: © Ariel)

The Ariel Atom is one of the better-known lightweight, street-legal track toys, and it’s looking to remain one of the best in the biz. In a recent interview with Autocar, the head of the company, Simon Saunders, revealed just how the automaker plans to keep it this way.

According to the report, Ariel is planning to use Honda’s new-found performance hybrid powertrain to develop hybrid vehicles. We’re not talking about a fuel-saving commuter car either; Ariel is looking at the future of the NSX’s powertrain technology and tapping into that. For now, Saunders admits that the NSX’s hybrid powertrain is too expensive for use in an Ariel vehicle, but as that technology trickles “down the food chain to the hot hatches,” Saunders thinks it will become accessible to Ariel.

This isn’t the first time that Ariel has considered hybridizing its vehicles, as Saunders admits that the company took a look at the powertrains in the Honda Insight and CR-Z, but neither was potent enough for use in one of its cars.

While performance is Ariel’s first priority with this possible shift to hybrid tech, it is also important to the company to make the Atom EU6 compliant in the future. Saunders even mentioned that there is the possibility of the Atom having an all-electric version in the future.

For now, this is just chatter as there are no initial plans to spread the NSX’s technology into smaller and less expensive packages, but it is still a cool thought. We’ll continue to monitor this situation and bring you updates as they become available.