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Team Lotus buys out Caterham

Tony Fernandes, the man behind the Lotus F1 team, has bought British sport car maker Caterham.

Team Lotus Caterham

By Jack Rix

27th April 2011

Caterham has joined forces with Lotus! Team Lotus Enterprise, headed by Tony Fernandes, the man behind the Team Lotus Formula 1 squad, has purchased Caterham for an undisclosed fee from its current owners - Corven Ventures.

Despite the change of ownership, the current management structure will remain in place,  leaving Caterham Cars Managing Director, Ansar Ali in charge.

 

 

There's been no official confirmation, but it's expected that the tie-up could see Caterham branding appear on Team Lotus F1 cars - a huge boost for the Kent-based firm and something that will help it to grow and venture into new markets.

Tony Fernandes said: “Caterham has a unique place at the heart of the motoring world. As well as being proudly and staunchly British, it has an enviable and uniquely unblemished reputation within the industry for performance, handling and engineering excellence."

Ansar Ali, added: “This is yet another exciting chapter in the Caterham story. The Seven will now have the global springboard it deserves and will continue to be evolved yet further, we also have the opportunity to expand the Caterham family beyond the Seven and SP/300.R and breathe new life into our uniquely respected brand and mature it into a truly global business.”

To celebrate the announcement, Caterham will build a limited run of 25 Team Lotus Special Edition Sevens.

The £3,000 upgrade package, which can be applied to the top-of-the-range 263bhp R500 includes a bespoke colour scheme in the famous green and yellow colours of Lotus and will come with a raft of bespoke Team Lotus additions. Included in the upgrade package will be an invitation to a customised tour of the Team Lotus F1 factory in Hingham, Norfolk.

For an alternative review of the latest Caterham 7 visit our sister site carbuyer.co.uk

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8 Comments

like!!

By nickeroo on 28 April, 2011, 8:53am

All the right moves!

Amazing move from Tony Fernandez. And since his first idea of running a Formula One team he did everything correct and hasn't made a single false move. He bought a racing team, made a succesful upgrade to F1, created the right image by using the Lotus history, and managed a deal for his cars to run with Renault engines and Red Bull gearboxes. And this "deal" (takeover) with Caterham will go both ways, although I expect Caterham to profit the most of it. Only one sad thing of course: the split and argument with Lotus Cars and the subsequent move of Lotus Cars to sponsor Renault F1, so that there are now two "Lotus" teams participating in F1. That should never have happened, although if I'm informed correctly that wasn't Fernandez' fault. Would have been fantastic if there was a strong and healthy link between Lotus Cars and Team Lotus, wouldn't it? If.....

By xedor2003 on 28 April, 2011, 9:13am

Full circle!

Seems very appropriate and fitting to me, seeing that the Caterham Seven started out as the Lotus 7 back when I were nobbut a lad, having of course been designed by the father of Lotus, Colin Chapman. I feel you might have mentioned this in your article - or perhaps you're all too young to remember!

By Tony474 on 28 April, 2011, 9:17am

No longer British !

I'm not going to celebrate the loss of this traditional British manufacturer to Malaysian ownership.

By Stuka_UK on 28 April, 2011, 10:01am

Not sure what I'm supposed to think...

Team Lotus buys ermm... a copy of a Lotus.

It would be like making best friends with someone who wears the same clothes as you did in the 1970s. Or could you see Bryan May sharing the stage with a Queen tribute band?

Both are great automotive institutions but for very different reasons. This is unsettling - I need to ponder.

By craiglife on 28 April, 2011, 11:17am

@ Full circle - how did I and AutoExpress miss that!?

Tony, you are so very right! And reading the article two times over I can't see how I missed it the first time that there really is no mentioning at all in the article about the historic bonds between Lotus and Caterham. And those bonds are so very important one could wonder if without them this deal would ever have been made..?

Should have been in the article, without a doubt.

By xedor2003 on 30 April, 2011, 11:44pm

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By djalkj on 3 May, 2011, 9:18am

Mixed Feelings

Has Tony Fernandez backed the right horse here? Since neither Team Lotus nor Lotus Cars is British owned these days that angle is moot, but I can't help wondering if Caterham would have been better served throwing their lot in with Lotus Cars rather than Team Lotus.

By sgtgrash on 23 June, 2011, 12:59pm

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Team Lotus Caterham
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