Nichols Cars has taken a decisive step from prototype ambition to production reality, confirming specialist UK manufacturer RML (Ray Mallock Limited) as the official build partner for its fiercely analogue N1A supercar. The announcement marks a pivotal transition for the Can-Am-inspired machine as it moves toward first customer deliveries scheduled for mid-2026.
At its core, the N1A is a deliberate rebellion against the creeping weight and digital saturation of modern performance cars. Conceived by legendary Formula 1 designer Steve Nichols, the project channels the raw theatricality of 1960s Can-Am racing, translating that era’s unfiltered mechanical drama into a contemporary road-legal form. The result is a machine engineered to feel immediate, physical, and unapologetically driver-focused.
Power comes from a naturally aspirated 7.0-litre V8, a choice that speaks more to character than convenience. With approximately 730bhp on tap and a target weight under 900kg, the performance equation is stark and uncompromising. There is no attempt to soften the experience or filter its edges. Instead, the N1A is designed to reward precision, nerve, and commitment, demanding engagement rather than offering assistance.
RML’s appointment is more than a manufacturing decision; it is a statement of intent. The Northamptonshire-based engineering firm brings deep expertise in low-volume, high-complexity vehicle production, having long operated at the intersection of motorsport and bespoke road car development. Its role will be to bridge the gap between prototype refinement and series production, ensuring that the N1A’s extreme engineering vision survives the transition into customer hands without dilution.
Production will be limited to no more than 100 units globally, reinforcing the car’s status as a rare mechanical artefact rather than a mass-produced halo model. Each vehicle will be assembled by RML’s specialist team in the UK, with an emphasis on craftsmanship, precision engineering, and fidelity to the original design intent. For Nichols Cars, exclusivity is not a marketing position but an extension of the car’s philosophy, where scarcity mirrors the purity of the driving experience.
John Minett, CEO of Nichols Cars, has described the response to the prototype as exceptional, noting strong interest from both media and early customers. His framing of the RML partnership underscores a consistent strategy of aligning with highly specialised partners at every stage of development, from concept to final build. In this context, RML represents not just capacity, but continuity of vision.
RML CEO Paul Dickinson echoed this sentiment, highlighting the uncompromising nature of the brief and the shared ambition to deliver a genuinely analogue driver’s car in a segment increasingly defined by digital intervention. His comments reinforce the sense that the N1A is not being built to compete within current supercar trends, but to stand deliberately apart from them.
As prototype testing reaches its final stages, production readiness is now on the horizon. The N1A’s arrival signals a rare countercurrent in the modern performance landscape, one where mechanical intimacy is treated not as nostalgia, but as a design objective. In an era of escalating complexity, Nichols Cars is betting that there remains a place for simplicity sharpened to an extreme edge, where the connection between driver and machine is not mediated, but direct.
