Ariel Ltd is based in Somerset, and is one of the UK's smallest automobile companies, with just 7 employees, producing fewer than 100 cars per year. It was formerly solocrest Limited and apart form the name has no connection with the former motorcycle firm.

The company's flagship car is the Ariel Atom, an extremely light, high performance car based around the Honda Civic Type-R engine and gearbox. The Atom is the world's first road-going exoskeletal car; it has no bodywork or roof, and is built entirely around the tube chassis, making it extremely lightweight at less than 500 kg. This means that the high performance supercharged model has a power-to-weight ratio of over 600 bhp per tonne, at the fraction of the cost of a conventional supercar.

The Ariel Atom has received great media interest, most recently when Jeremy Clarkson tested the Atom on BBC motoring television programme Top Gear. The car received a 1:19.5 on the Power Lap Times when driven by The Stig, placing it 4th behind the Pagani Zonda (1:18.4) the Maserati MC12 (1:18.9) and the Ferrari Enzo (1:19.0).