Sports Cars

Niche British vehicle manufacturer Caterham Cars has established a new standalone engineering company that plans to produce a range of affordable sports cars. Caterham Technology and Innovation (CTI) will be responsible for the development of the completely new line of accessible sports cars that will be inspired by the same lightweight and minimalist philosophies that drive the famous Caterham Seven. CTI will draw on the advanced technologies and materials developed by the group’s Team Lotus Formula One and Caterham Team AirAsia GP2 motorsport operations. CTI CEO, Mark Edwards, said the new company boasted a world-class team of vehicle engineers committed to building on the Caterham ethos. “The new shareholders are committed to investing in an exciting range of global products over the next 10 years,” Mr Edwards said. “Tony Fernandes [the owner of Caterham Cars] has been very clear from […]

Lotus hadn’t planned on making many Elises. About 2,500 cars should do it, Lotus thought, taking the Elise from its 1996 launch to, maybe, the millennial cusp. After all, not many people would want a basic, pure, minimalist sports car costing a far from minimalist £19,000. Surely. Well, the Elise has just entered its third generation (from £27,450). About 35,000 have left Lotus’s Hethel factory to date. The idea has proved more widely seductive than the original creators dared to hope and, as I turn and go back up the twisting road by Goodwood racecourse to savour the bends yet again, I am once more completely under its spell. There is nothing quite like an Elise. Other cars have had the individual elements – light weight, simplicity, a mid-mounted engine, a British badge – but currently the Lotus is a […]