Shuanghuan Noble

Shuanghuan Noble
Shuanghuan Martin Motors Wheego
aka	Shuanghuan Bubble Martin Motors Bubble (Italian) Wheego Whip (All-Electric)
Production	2004-2016
Class	Microcar
Body Style	3-door Hatchback
Length	3,010 mm
Width	1,605 mm
Height	1,600 mm
Wheelbase	2,025 mm
Curb Weight	875 kg
Transmission	5-speed manual
Engine	0.8 L SQR372 i3 (petrol) 1.0 L DA465Q-2 i4 2.4 L 4G69 I4 (petrol) 1.1 L DA468QA i4
Power	{{{Horsepower and Torque rating}}}
Similar	Smart Fortwo (Critical) Chevrolet Spark (Critical)

The Shuanghuan Noble, also called the Shuanghuan Bubble (known as Martin Motors Bubble in Italy) is a Chinese microcar made from 2004-2016 by Shuanghuan and Martin Motors, and is only sold in China and Italy. It is often labeled as a blatant ripoff of the Smart Fortwo and Chevrolet Spark as all cars have similar stylings, but the Noble does not look anything like the Fortwo at all.

Martin Motors filed for bankruptcy in 2015, thereby ending the production of the Noble in Italy. Acquisitions were then moved back to Shuanghuan, but it too was shut down by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology a year later in 2016, meaning that the life of the Noble was over.

The Noble marks as the last production vehicle by Shuanghuan, and is the only Shuanghuan car that is an original car, not a blatant copyright.

See Autopedia’s comprehensive Shuanghuan Noble Review.

Recent Changes

There are no changes that have occurred.

Styles and Major Options

Standard trim includes dual front airbags, ABS braking system with EBD, audio system with radio and USB slot with MP3 playback capability, electric power steering, power windows and air conditioning.

Pricing

TBA

Gas Mileage

TBA

Reliability

TBA

Saety

Safety features include:

• Dual front airbags
• ABS braking system with EBD

Photos

TBA

Colors

The Noble comes in a variety of colors, mainly, from black, white, red, and blue, to dark blue and green.

Main Competiors

• Chevrolet Spark
• Smart Fortwo

Hybrid Models

Main Article: Wheego Whip

There were no hybrid models for the Noble, but it was being sold in U.S. States as an electric car called the Wheego Whip. The Whip as it is named in the U.S. is able to reach speeds up to 70 miles per hour (113 km/h) but will be initially sold as a low-speed vehicle with a maximum speed of 25 miles per hour (40 km/h) until it passes crash tests by the US DoT.

Criticisms

The car has caused numerous controversies, with Mercedes-Benz even filing a lawsuit against Shuanghuan because of the similarities with the Smart Fortwo. Mercedes-Benz also persuaded the Italian court to prohibit Martin Motors from exhibiting the Noble, called the Bubble, at the Bologna Motor Show, but this was denied and the car was put on display. Martin demonstrated the Bubble outside the show. “We want everyone to see in real life how a four-seat front-engine front-wheel drive minicar differs from a rear-engine rear-wheel drive two-seater,” said Martin Motors spokesperson Viviana Martinelli.

In May 2009 a Greek court denied Daimler’s lawsuit against the Noble and cleared the car allowing sales to begin in Greece. The judge answering to Daimler's demand to ban the Chinese vehicle from entering the Greek market said that “The impression the Noble makes on a third and informed party by its visual appearance is different to the one that is made to the same person by the Smart... It is commonly accepted that the decision over buying a new car cannot be based only on the exterior characteristics but many other technical specifications such as the power of the engine, fuel consumption, trim specification, retail price and dealers’ network.”

The ruling states that the latter party’s doings “cannot possibly misguide the public” as the German company claimed in its legal request. The judge noted the salient fact that “the plaintiff is no longer selling the specific generation of the Smart which claims to have been copied, but a different vehicle, with much different characteristics.”

The judge also accepted in whole the defendant’s argument that cars of the same segment cannot avoid a certain level of resemblance due to technical restrictions, similar purposes and goals, especially when it comes to such small cars that present a challenge to design. The ruling concludes that “there is no competition between the two companies.”

Worldwide

The Noble was available worldwide, both as the Shuanghuan Noble, Martin Motors Bubble, and Wheego Whip.

See Also

image (between 170-190 pixels)
	WHEEGO TECHNOLOGIES
	Discontinued Whip Shuanghuan Auto · Martin Motors
Mike McQuary	http://wheego.net/service/	Private