Caterham custom sports cars based on Lotus Seven models are only present on two dozen markets worldwide, but their fame spreads farther than that. Japanese company VT Holdings has now acquired the marque.
Graham Nearn, the original founder of Caterham Cars, established it in 1963 and shared ownership with his relatives. The company only began producing sports cars in 1973 – a decade after opening – and ultimately went on sale ten years ago. Malaysia-based entrepreneurs Tony Fernandes and Kamarudin Meranun acquired it back then and have now sold it on to VT Holdings, which is headed by ex-racing driver Kazuho Takahashi.
In 2012, Caterham founded a joint venture with Renault named Société des Automobiles Alpine Caterham to produce Alpine cars and technologically similar Caterham ones. The joint venture fell apart two years later, however, and while Caterham did announce a new daily driver sports car five years ago, it never made it past the project stage.
VT Holdings has a history of selling Caterham cars in Japan for the past 12 years. At 120,000+ annual units, they are quite popular in Japan. It also imports Lotus vehicles and distributes them through its network of about two hundred dealerships.
Takahashi says he intends to keep the Caterham Seven on the market and even give it a major update, but this is all we know right now. The company will be divided in two departments from now on: Caterham Cars Limited for car manufacturing and Seven Motorsport Limited for customization, maintenance and repair.
The marque’s current lineup consists of such models as the Seven 270, Seven 310, Seven 360, Seven 420, Seven 620, and Super Seven 1600. Prices in the UK range between £27,490 and £50,390.