Frazer-Nash returns at Geneva

News

2 mins read

4 March 2009

Frazer-Nash, the legendary British sports car maker, got a new lease of life at Geneva when Italdesign-Giugiaro unveiled this all-electric supercar, due to go into limited production this year as the Frazer-Nash Namir.

The car is a joint venture between the Italian design house and the owner of the Frazer-Nash name, Swiss firm KamKorp. Frazer-Nash developed and supplied the four-motor powertrain, while Giugiaro engineered and built everything else, from suspension to the carbonfibre tub.

See more pics of the Frazer-Nash Namir

The Frazer-Nash Namir uses two motors at the front and two at the back to give four-wheel drive. Power is supplied by a generator driven by a mid-mounted 814cc rotary engine, and between them the four motors provide 357bhp, while the engine emits just 60g/km of CO2.

That’s enough, claims Giugiaro, to give the Frazer-Nash Namir a 0-62mph time of 3.5sec and a 0-124mph time of 10.4sec.

The tub is clothed in a mix of carbonfibre, aluminium and magnesium panels. At 4560mm long and 1972mm wide, it’s a similar size to a Ferrari 599, but the light materials have kept the weight down to 1450kg.

All of the Namir's mechanical and electrical components are mounted in the front and the rear of the car; this gives a 50/50 weight distribution and leaves a totally flat and very low floor in the cabin, making the car’s interior very spacious.

Kamkorp has been working on electric drivetrains for almost 20 years, since it bought the Frazer-Nash name in the early 1990s. It says it has carried out over 300,000 miles of testing on the system. It is confident that fully working, driveable cars will be in operation by June, with production cars coming later this year.