When Yamaha gets involved with an automotive project, the results tend to be pretty special. Think Ford Puma and Lexus LFA, for starters. For those cars, Yamaha helped with engine development; now it’s been confirmed that the company will work on the powertrain for the Caterham Project V, including an e-axle for the prototype.
The Caterham EV concept made quite the impression when it debuted at Festival of Speed last year, so it’s no surprise to learn that Project V is advancing at pace towards the prototype stage. The plan remains for the car to reach commercial production, so the involvement of Yamaha feels like a big step forward. Today’s press release says the Japanese company will join as a development partner, supplying its ‘cutting-edge e-axle’ for the next stage.
Interestingly, the prototype is not being built by Caterham, but by engineering company Tokyo R&D, which is said to boast a ‘proven track record in developing major OEM-commissioned vehicles’. So the forecast mid-2025 completion date hopefully shouldn’t alter. Perhaps a fully functioning demo car could be at next year’s Festival of Speed. Just a thought.
Encouragingly, Caterham believes that getting Yamaha onboard ‘will not only deliver a powertrain to match the expectations of what an all-new Caterham should be, but confidently accelerate the delivery of Project V to the market’. That has to be good news given that time tends to move quite slowly when it comes to Caterham's evolution. Perhaps that group test of Porsche 718 EV, electric A110 and the next Lotus sports car will have another contender sooner than we think...
1 / 2