You wait ages for a new Caterham and then, out of the blue, two come along at once. A couple of weeks ago, the British marque threw its hat into the electric sports car ring by announcing a battery-powered concept based on the legendary Seven. Now, it’s teased another concept that, from the looks of it, appears to abandon the Seven platform altogether.
Not that we’ve got a lot to go on here, because the only thing Caterham has revealed about its ‘Project V’ concept is that’ll be powered by an “electric powertrain”. A bold move for a carmaker that specialises in all things featherweight, but the company reiterates that whatever Project V turns out to be will be “driver-focused, lightweight and fun to drive.” Not convinced? For its Seven EV concept, Caterham is targeting a mere 70kg increase over the combustion-powered 485 and a weight distribution within two per cent. Needless to say, it’s taking the lightweight EV sports car thing very seriously.
As for the way it looks, well, this shadowy image is all we’ve got to go off. Doesn’t look like a Seven, does it? Three simple lines hint at a low nose, a proper roof (!) and wheel arches. Unless it's gone and stapled some bodywork to a Seven, all signs to this being the company’s first all-new road car since the AeroSeven Concept which, as the name suggests, was based on the Seven... and never made production.
Let’s hope the same fate won’t befall Project V because a lightweight, all-electric sports car sounds rather appealing when Caterham is involved. Looks like we won’t have that long a wait to see what the company’s up to, as a countdown on the Project V landing page would suggest an official unveiling in mid-July. In the meantime, you can register you interest in one and/or speculate to your heart’s content in the comments below.