It was certainly a unique looking car
The next Caterham is to be created online by the public and could have an electric or hybrid powertrain, the carmaker has announced. In a world first, the company is inviting car enthusiasts to help design an all-new sports car and even test drive it.
The venture is in collaboration with Project Splitwheel and people can get involved on the dedicated website, www.splitwheel.com. From here, members from all over the globe are able to submit ideas and concepts for every single aspect of the new Caterham and discuss and debate them with other users, before ultimately voting on what makes it to the final vehicle.
Initial registration for the venture is now open with the Project set to start early in the New Year. Drivers will be asked how they feel about different forms of propulsion, including electric and hybrid, and once the spec is agreed Caterham is looking to add the car to its range by 2011.
As an added incentive to participants, Splitwheel and Caterham will offer plenty of opportunities to get ‘hands-on’, with members test driving and possibly even racing the development car.
'We are thrilled to be involved in what we believe to be the world’s first project of this type,' said Ansar Ali, Managing Director of Caterham Cars. 'Creating a worthy stable mate for the iconic Caterham 7 is one of the greatest challenges in the automotive world and one which will be hugely exciting for enthusiasts to get stuck into.'
Project Splitwheel is the brainchild of automotive consultant Piers Drake, 31, from London.'Cars are amongst the most hotly debated topics on the internet and for the first time we are going to channel some of that passion and energy into an exciting high-profile project with a real-world outcome,' said Drake. 'Every petrolhead dreams of running their own sports car company. Project Splitwheel is effectively the world’s first ‘virtual’ car manufacturer and as far as possible we will be asking our members to call the shots, just as if they were running a marque themselves.'