Monday 28th November 2011

Caterham becomes Caterham Group

Caterham 'grows up' into full-blown automotive group

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Eight months after purchasing Caterham Cars (and a matter of weeks after the announcement of a name change for the F1 team from Lotus to Caterham), Tony Fernandes has announced the creation of a new 'umbrella brand' to cover all the firm's activities.

The new group will consist of four areas: Caterham Cars, Caterham F1 Team, Caterham Technology & Innovation (CTI) and Caterham Composites.

Team Lotus is now Caterham F1...

"We have been talking for some time now about our plans for Caterham in all its guises," says Fernandes, "from the road car company to Formula 1 and GP2, and in the technology, design and innovation fields. Now, with the announcement about the rebranding in Formula One to Caterham F1 Team for 2012 and beyond, we are in a position to give a much more in-depth explanation of how the Caterham Group is taking shape."

Which is as follows: "This range of business interests provides us a very strong foothold in a number of growth sectors, staffed with teams of people with a strong mix of experience, youth, creativity and passion. In short, we have all the right ingredients in place to do some incredibly exciting things in markets that are ripe for innovation and new ideas."

Jolly good... In practical terms this means that Caterham Cars will continue expanding into new markets, like India and China, and is even readying its first-ever all-new car for 2014.

The F1 aspect, meanwhile (which includes Caterham Racing as the new name for the Group's GP2 outfit), is a "new and permanent incarnation of our Formula One investment. On and off track we continue to invest in people, infrastructure and technology". It will also act as a focus for the 700-or-so Caterham racers around the world.

...but Riggers probably won't get a drive...

The third side of the operation is Caterham Technology & Innovation (CTI), which was launched in September and, as well as helping Caterham Cars with its next generation of models, is aiming to take on engineering projects for third-party companies.

Finally there's Caterham Composites, headed by the F1 team's chief technical officer, Mike Gascoyne, and charged with handling projects for the aerospace, nautical, motorsport and automotive industries.

So... a British sports car manufacturer with Malaysian backing, an F1 team and its finger in various engineering pies... remind you of anyone else?

[EliseKSK]

Now all they need to do is to buy the rights to the Elise and, as Lotus heads skywards with product and pricing, reintroduce the S1 at under £25k.

[bobbylondonuk]

Tony knows how to make money from the common man. Lotus went all premium and Tony stepped right in the void. Caterham is now the old Lotus! Well done!

[Twincam16]

EliseKSK said:

Now all they need to do is to buy the rights to the Elise and, as Lotus heads skywards with product and pricing, reintroduce the S1 at under £25k.

Spot-on idea, although how much would it cost to produce that epoxy-resin-bonded shell and still manage to get the car down to £25k - and would it work as a kit?

Come to think of it, could they get away with reintroducing the 21?

[Ex Boy Racer]

I kind of miss the old 'car made in a shed' element of Caterham. I liked the fact it was small and idiosyncratic.

[A Scotsman]

Westfield is still British isn't it?

[Frimley111R]

bobbylondonuk said:

Tony knows how to make money from the common man. Lotus went all premium and Tony stepped right in the void. Caterham is now the old Lotus! Well done!

WTF? How do you work that out? They've got the 7 and no experience/skill in manufacturing 'proper' cars.

[TobesH]

Having had one of the best drives of my life last Saturday - Midhurst to Goodwood to Petworth via Duncton to Midhurst in my little 125, I don't Caterham have to anything other than keep selling 7's.

[Frimley111R]

Twincam16 said:

EliseKSK said:

Now all they need to do is to buy the rights to the Elise and, as Lotus heads skywards with product and pricing, reintroduce the S1 at under £25k.

Spot-on idea, although how much would it cost to produce that epoxy-resin-bonded shell and still manage to get the car down to £25k - and would it work as a kit?

Come to think of it, could they get away with reintroducing the 21?

IIRC this has all been covered before and general consensus is that this won't happen. I don't think its good for any brand to sell off its old cars and let someone else rebadge them.

[MX7]

bobbylondonuk said:

Tony knows how to make money from the common man. Lotus went all premium and Tony stepped right in the void. Caterham is now the old Lotus! Well done!

Do Westfield become the new Caterham?

I can't see Lotus selling off the Elise yet, although that's exactly the type of product that Caterham need.

[Twincam16]

Frimley111R said:

Twincam16 said:

EliseKSK said:

Now all they need to do is to buy the rights to the Elise and, as Lotus heads skywards with product and pricing, reintroduce the S1 at under £25k.

Spot-on idea, although how much would it cost to produce that epoxy-resin-bonded shell and still manage to get the car down to £25k - and would it work as a kit?

Come to think of it, could they get away with reintroducing the 21?

IIRC this has all been covered before and general consensus is that this won't happen. I don't think its good for any brand to sell off its old cars and let someone else rebadge them.

[cathalm]

bobbylondonuk said:

Tony knows how to make money from dealing with the Malaysian government to gain large footholds in businesses his personal resources don't allow and play an expert marketing game . Lotus expanded their range upwards whilst not abandoning current customers either and Tony played a great game to get what he wanted in the airline business through being canny over a Lotus naming issue and will now be collaborating with Lotus on future cars. Caterham is now a new business with lofty and admirable goals and Lotus is once again becoming the old Lotus of Chapmans era with Tony on side! Well done!

Corrected for accuracy and removal of nonsense gleaned from PH trolls and Tonys personal journalist Joe Saward.

Dodgy Tone is a smart man,like a Malaysian Del Boy with more money. Hope it all works out well now with Caterhams plans and Lotus big push too now Tone has what he wants and they've kissed and made up. Two fine British brands with big ambitions and many good people behind them. Good luck chaps and let's see two better F1 cars next season!

[MX7]

Only if there were some people here who were prepared to defend Lotus.

[Hellbound]

MX7 said:

Only if there were some people here who were prepared to defend Lotus.

I'll happily take blows to the groin and face while defending Lotus.

[Monkey boy 1]

EliseKSK said:

Now all they need to do is to buy the rights to the Elise and, as Lotus heads skywards with product and pricing, reintroduce the S1 at under £25k.

And who makes the Elise Mk1 Chassis ?

[BertBert]

EliseKSK said:

Now all they need to do is to buy the rights to the Elise and, as Lotus heads skywards with product and pricing, reintroduce the S1 at under £25k.

Now that would be an interesting exercise in customer segmentation and product positioning. Can you actually buy a new Caterham 7 for under 25k?

That means they'll have the "proper car" positioned below the "toy car".

[MX7]

BertBert said:

Now that would be an interesting exercise in customer segmentation and product positioning. Can you actually buy a new Caterham 7 for under 25k?

You can almost buy 2.

[EliseKSK]

Monkey boy 1 said:

And who makes the Elise Mk1 Chassis ?

My point is that, as Lotus pushes upmarket, an S1 recreation, enshewing central locking, electric windows, air conditioning, etc., etc., would fit into the Caterham brand quite nicely.

[Monkey boy 1]

EliseKSK said:

My point is that, as Lotus pushes upmarket, an S1 recreation, enshewing central locking, electric windows, air conditioning, etc., etc., would fit into the Caterham brand quite nicely.

Which is exactly what the current Elise is.

[dlockhart]

One of the thing that stuck me about the mclaren documentary in BBC2 recently is that they still rely on companies to provide the composite material for their chassic of the mp4-12c. Caterham now have a dedicated composite material wing - which should help reduce the running cost (and therefure up R&D budget) of their f1 team. Smart thinking.

As for talk of them getting the elise- just pie in the sky isnt it?

[Ozzie Osmond]

It's notable that Tony Fernandes makes his money elsewhere and spends it on F1 etc. The chance of him making money in the car business is IMO very, very small.