Arash Motor Company Limited is a British

supercar A supercar, also known as an exotic car, is a street-legal sports car with race track-like power, speed, and handling, plus a certain subjective ''cachet'' linked to pedigree and/or exclusivity. The term 'supercar' is frequently used for th ...

& hypercar manufacturer based in Newmarket, Suffolk. It was originally established by Arash Farboud as Farboud Limited in 1999, and changed name in 2006. The company has expanded to North America with a manufacturing facility in Bolton, Ontario, Canada. The company has made four models to date: the AF-LM (a prototype Le Mans tribute car), the Farboud GTS (a super sports car), the AF-8 (their first

) and the AF-10 (a hypercar). Currently only the AF-8 & AF-10 are in production but a new car is due to be released in 2021. The company is an ultra-low volume manufacturer, producing less than 3 cars per year. Sales are equally low, having sold fewer than 80 cars since commencement.

History

The company began developing the Farboud GT in 1999 under the name Farboud Ltd. This was launched at The Autosport Show held at the Birmingham NEC in 2001. Farboud went on to design the Farboud GTS which was officially launched at the British Motorshow in London in 2004. At that time Chris Marsh, the son of Jem Marsh who founded

Marcos Engineering Marcos Engineering was a British sports car automaker, manufacturer. The name derives from the surnames of founders Jem ''Mar''sh and Frank ''Cos''tin. History Marcos was founded in Dolgellau, North Wales, in 1959, by Speedex cars' Jem Marsh wi ...

together with Frank Costin, was working with Arash as a sales representative. Marsh became enthusiastic about the Farboud GTS and Arash subsequently granted him a licence to use the shape of the car and assist with the development in exchange for shares in the new car company. Marsh subsequently simplified the design by substituting the

Audi RS4 The Audi RS 4 is the high-performance variant of the Audi A4 range produced by Audi Sport GmbH for AUDI AG, a division of the Volkswagen Group. It sits above the Audi S4 as the fastest, most sports-focused car based on the A4's "B" automobile pla ...

based racing engine with a

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V6. He also changed some cosmetic features including the doors, windows and interior parts. After a dispute in 2005, Marsh renamed the car "The Farbio". This was to announce the Farboud car link to "biofuel" and fitted more with the brand rework. He originally attempted to call the car "The Fangio", but there was push-back from the deceased Formula 1 driver's Argentine family regarding remuneration. Arash sold his shares of Farbio to Michael Simmonds. Arash continued as 100% shareholder of Farboud Ltd. This later became Arash Motor Co. The design and concept was later sold to Laurence Tomlinson of

Ginetta Ginetta Cars Limited is a British specialist builder of racing and sports cars based in Garforth, Leeds, West Yorkshire. History 20th century Ginetta was founded in 1958 by four Walklett brothers (Bob, Ivor, Trevers and Douglas) in Woodbridge, ...

, who kept the design and renamed the car the Ginetta F400.

Models

Farboud GT

The Farboud GT was the company's first model, announced in 2002 at the

Autosport International Autosport International is a four-day motorsport event that includes a two-day trade show for industry professionals and a two-day public show. It is held at the National Exhibition Centre, NEC, in Birmingham, United Kingdom and operated by Mo ...

show in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

. It featured a 2.8-litre V6

twin turbo Twin-turbo is a type of turbo layout in which two turbochargers are used to compress the intake fuel/air mixture (or intake air, in the case of a direct-injection engine). The most common layout features two identical or mirrored turbochargers in ...

engine producing 620 bhp.

Farboud GTS

The Farboud GTS was shown as a concept car at Autosport International in 2003. Three cars were built before the design was sold to Farbio Sports Cars and production started in 2007 with the car sold as the Farbio GTS. Following the merging of Farbio with

, the GTS was further developed as the

Ginetta F400 The Ginetta F400, previously known as the Farbio GTS, and originally developed by Arash Motor Company as the Farboud GTS, was a sports car produced by the British car manufacturer Ginetta Cars. It was the first car planned for production by Fa ...

Arash AF10

In 2009, Arash displayed the AF10, featuring a

Chevrolet Corvette The Chevrolet Corvette is a line of American two-door, two-seater sports cars manufactured and marketed by General Motors under the Chevrolet marque since 1953. Throughout eight generations, indicated sequentially as C1 to C8, the Corvette is not ...

-sourced 7.0-litre V8 engine producing at least 500 bhp. The car was not put into production but Arash later revealed a revised model in 2016 with a hybrid drivetrain and a horsepower claim of 2,080 hp. It also features in the car racing game '' Asphalt 8: Airborne'' as one of the fastest cars in the game, placed up high in Class S with a rank of S1859.

Arash AF8

The AF8 was designed by Arash and revealed at the

Geneva Motor Show The Geneva International Motor Show was an annual auto show held in March in the Swiss city of Geneva. The show was hosted at the Palexpo, a convention centre located next to the Geneva Cointrin International Airport. The Salon was organised b ...

2016. It featured a carbon/steel tubed chassis and a mid-engined 7.0-litre V8 engine producing 505 bhp. It later went up the hill at the

Goodwood Festival of Speed The Goodwood Festival of Speed is an annual motorsports festival featuring modern and historic motor racing vehicles taking part in a hillclimbing, hillclimb and other events, held in Goodwood House, West Sussex, in late June or early July. Th ...

in 2015 and 2016.

References

External links

*{{official website, http://www.arashcars.com Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1999 Car manufacturers of the United Kingdom Companies based in Suffolk Sports car manufacturers 1999 establishments in England