The Noble Gentleman

In September 2005, I met with Lee Noble, the director, chief designer and engineer of Noble Automotive. The interview was to form part of my winning submission for the Guild of Motoring Writers' Sir William Lyons Award.

NOBLE HAS GROWN considerably in the last decade. From producing the V6-powered M10 roadster, its first production car, it has evolved into a far more established and highly regarded sports car manufacturer, winning an array of motor industry awards. Lee Noble, the company director, designer and chief engineer, was the man with the original vision. “I just thought it was time to do it. We’d been building all these others cars for years and got lots of experience. It was time to build a brand out of it – a British sports car brand.”

“I love driving nice cars and you get a thrill out of making something yourself. A lot of people see what’s on the market and just say ‘I could do better than that’, but I’m one of those people who likes to prove the point.” It seems his point has already been proven, with Noble’s numerous awards, some of which hang modestly in the reception area of their Barwell facility near Leicester. One of the most recent is for the M400, which was proclaimed by Autocar as their best drivers’ car in 2004.

Although the business and design is handled in Britain, the majority of Noble’s production is completed at their plant in South Africa. “There’s no incentive to be a British car company manufacturing in Britain,” says Lee, “There’s no help for anybody, especially from the government.” South Africa may seem a strange choice, but Noble isn’t the only firm that has realised the benefits of producing there. Mercedes, Volkswagen and Ford also all have facilities there, and with good reason. “There are a lot of people there who are passionate about cars” Lee explains, “and you don’t just profit from their ability and their labour rates; you get passion with it. They’re proud of building motor cars.”

It’s obvious that Lee sees pride as an important element of Noble’s ethos. “I’ve always been proud to be British and I’m proud that our cars are too. They are all designed from a passionate British standpoint, but we realised early on that we couldn’t make them in this country, because we couldn’t get the staff. The problem is that people have lost the passion of being British. It’s down to the workforce as well. You can’t find enough people who actually give a damn.” Commenting on other British brands, he remarks, “Some of them try to do too much with the car and miss the point.” Noble appears to be far more focussed. “We’re a niche brand and I’d rather stay where we are, because it’s safer.”

Lee currently juggles his engineer, designer and director roles, but if the company grew or decided to expand it’s workforce, he concedes he would delegate more responsibility. “I’d stand back from the business, but I wouldn’t stand back from the design, because it’s the creative aspect that I enjoy the most.” I ask him what, if anything, would stop him making cars. He replies simply, “Ill health…or old age!”