Giugiaro-designed Namir revives historic brand

THE latest brand to be revived from the automotive industry’s past is Frazer-Nash, a British sports and racing car-maker whose roots date back to 1923 and chain-driven cars, but which last made a car in the late 1950s.

The company doing the reviving is famed styling house Italdesign Giugiaro, and the new Frazer-Nash is claimed to be the fastest hybrid car in the world.

A successor firm to the original automaker – Frazer-Nash Research, which specialises in developing electric drivetrains for hybrid cars and mass transit systems – played a major role in the hybrid electric supercar project.

The radical new Frazer-Nash Namir – the name is Arabic for Tiger – is designed to showcase the company’s technology, but is not intended to signal the re-launch of the nameplate, at least for now.

Widely regarded as one of the stars of this year’s Geneva motor show, it was styled by Fabrizio Giugiaro, the co-chairman of the family business, and was built at Italdesign’s Turin design and engineering centre.

Its race-style carbon-fibre monocoque chassis weighs just 110kg. All-up, the car weighs 1450kg, including 150kg of batteries, but Mr Giugiaro said it could be made lighter “if it needs to be”.



This chassis was also employed under the Quaranta concept car that Italdesign presented at last year’s Geneva show, which was also a wedge-shaped concept car, but powered by a Toyota V6-based hybrid drivetrain. Conveniently, it was already designed with space exactly where Frazer-Nash wanted to place its batteries.

Italdesign’s full-length chassis employs an F1-style protective crash cone in the nose, with another at the rear which carries the rotary engine, rather than employing bolt-on metal subframes.

Unveiling the car, Mr Giugiaro said he based the distinctive styling around the Frazer-Nash diamond logo, while the interior is intended to be a modern take on British luxury.

“Frazer-Nash has no styling language, so I had to invent it (but) this is a traditional shape for this kind of car,” said Mr Giugiaro. “The customer wanted something traditional to be seen along with Ferrari and Lamborghini. A simple, mid-engine exotic car, oriented to production.

“The encounter with Frazer-Nash dates back to about a year ago and it was a pleasure to meet with a name that has made automobile history.

“Since the early 1990s, Frazer-Nash has taken the lead in the engineering and construction of hybrid systems for vehicles and they were very interested in our branch of research dedicated to hybrid systems applied to sports vehicles.

“A few months ago, they contacted us about collaborating with them in developing a product that could showcase the potential of their systems.

“Frazer-Nash then began concentrating on the development of a fuel, traction, and transmission system bespoke for Namir, while the talents and expertise of Italdesign Giugiaro were exploited for the interior styling, planning, engineering and mechanics.”The small central radiator provides cool air for the climate-control system, and the small radiators on either side are for the two front electric motors.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the car is Frazer-Nash’s contribution of the hybrid powertrain, which combines an 814cc rotary engine with four electric motors producing 270kW – with no power lost in a transmission, so every bit of torque goes straight to the wheels.

This provides startling performance of 0-100km/h in 3.5 seconds and 0-200km/h in 10.4 seconds, with a top speed of 300km/h.

But, being a hybrid, the car uses as little as 2.5L/100km of fuel and emits less than 60g/km of CO2 – less than a Smart city car.

The rotary engine runs on petrol and acts as a generator that charges the lithium polymer power cells. A 50-litre fuel tank capacity gives a total autonomy of almost 2000km without the need to be refueled or recharged.

A rotary engine may not seem the ideal choice given its reputation for high fuel consumption and emissions, but Mr Giugiaro explained in Geneva that, while there were limitations across a normal rev range, the Namir’s German-built engine only needs to operate at a steady rpm.

“It’s the best way to generate electricity,” he said of the rotary engine. “It can run low rpm all the time, and the vibrations are very low, too.

“It was an interesting and profitable collaboration that resulted in a unique vehicle with very exciting performance levels in terms of speed and pick-up, above all in terms of low fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.”Mr Giugiaro suggested that his company may again join with Frazer-Nash to produce a small, economical car for next year’s Geneva show.