Caterham has been making open-top two-seater sports cars since 1973 when the company purchased the rights to continue to manufacture what originally began life as the Lotus Seven. The Lotus Seven formula stretches way back to 1957, so Caterham has doggedly stuck to a tried and tested sports car formula for donkey’s years. During its corporate existence, many well-known automotive brands have fallen either through mismanagement or asset stripping, recessions, wars, oil crises and endless banking collapses. Caterham has survived it all. As far as we know Caterham is still going strong, it lives within its means.
So the Caterham Project V is a bolt out of the blue, totally unexpected considering the company’s tendency to stick to old habits and avoid change. So what is Project V? It’s a pure electric sports coupe. Yes a sports coupe from Caterham, meaning that Caterham has made a sports car with a fixed roof… to rival the Porsche Boxster.
Totally crazy-nuts.
The fact that Project V is a pure electric car is not a surprise. Caterham is simply following mandated industry trends. Indeed, the electric motor has been around since 1834, although we can trace the earliest concepts back to the mid-1700s. Therefore a Caterham EV is to be expected, at some point. The real surprise will be if Project V actually goes into production because for now, it exists as a concept study.
The Caterham Project V electric powertrain uses a 200kW (272PS) rear-mounted electric motor with a 55kWh battery pack. Target 0-62mph (100kph) in less than 4.5 seconds, an estimated top speed of 143mph and WLTP range of 249 miles (400km). The real takeaway here though is that Caterham is keeping to its lightweight sports car philosophy.
Caterham’s engineers are targeting a kerb weight of just 1,190kg, which will be achieved by using a carbon fibre and aluminium composite chassis. All-in-all, a 1,190kg electric car of any type is crazy nuts, it is unheard of in this generation. It suggests Caterham has developed advanced lightweight EV technology with limited funds. What it does reveal is Caterham demonstrating that it possesses advanced marketing capabilities.
Apparently, Project V is an engineering and production feasibility benchmark. This inadvertently implies that Caterham lacks the necessary funds and is uncertain about the existence of a market for a vehicle with a projected price of £80,000. Although we’re fairly certain that theoretical price point could double when factoring in interest rates, inflation, the banking crisis (yet another asset-stripping banking crisis) and the inflation caused by the banking crisis and NATO’s proxy war in Ukraine.
Caterham says Project V could become a production reality in 2025 or 2026, but expect that date to change and expect delays. Nonetheless, the Caterham Project V will make its Global public debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, Thursday 13th July 2023.
