Caterham promises two new EV models for lightweight race car enthusiasts.
Driving a Caterham is always a great privilege, especially in this day and age when carmakers are unveiling larger and heavier cars every other day.
Lovers of pure automotive performance care only about speed noise and the feeling of a cold breeze on the face. And that’s practically the description of every Caterham ever made.
The company is promising to keep offering the same driving experience, even after the projected transition to the electric age, far away from air conditioning, heated seats, and complicated infotainment systems that other conventional carmakers are obsessed with.
The brand’s most recent offering is the Caterham Seven 2000, made exclusively for the US market and powered by a 2.0-liter Ford Duratec engine, capable of making 180 horsepower. All we can say about this model is that it’s a faithful application of the Caterham philosophy. But the interesting news here is not the model itself, but the announcement that came with it.
Caterham is going electric. CEO Bob Laishley strongly believes that the ever-tightening European emission regulations won't allow his company to keep flourishing the way it wants, “the Caterham way”. That’s why the brand took the decision of developing two new electric models as the first step towards a fully-electric portfolio.
However, Laishley left the window open for future ICE models, he said that the brand will keep making internal combustion cars and ship them abroad to more forgiving markets, like the United States for example.
Caterham's future plans include building two electric models, one of which will be an electric copy of the iconic Seven, and it includes the typical lightweight design, though it’s still not clear how the company will achieve that with all the added battery weight.
Laishely explained that the electric Seven will not be rushed, the company won't build one until it figures out a way to make it as light as the original. So meanwhile, the company will experiment with another EV. Caterham described it as a radically different, mass-produced car. It will be more enclosed and more expensive than the Seven.
Laishley gave a more elaborate description, almost drawing the car’s sketch using words only: “It will be prettier and more modern than a Seven – those will be big points of distinction – and maybe it will have a roof. We're designing it as a pure EV from the start, with rear-drive only, and it will be registered under SVA rules,” Laishley said. [i]
“This will definitely not be a Seven,” he added. “But it'll have all the characteristics today's Caterham customers know well: lightness, simplicity, agility, and performance. Like the Seven, it will have a steel space frame (but a different one) because they're easy to modify in production if you need to. It will have a six-panel enveloping body in aluminum or carbon: two sills, two doors, plus clamshell openings front and rear.”
This new car will see the light as early as 2026, years ahead of the electric Seven.
Owning a collection car is a lot of work, cleaning and shining will become an integral part of the daily routine. How about making your life a little easier?
Coverking offers you a helping hand, in the form of a vast collection of high-quality car covers.
The beautiful thing about Coverking products is that they are all custom-made, meanings that you will have a suitable cover for your car, no matter how rare it is.
Our covers will hug tightly around your car, following every small detail, and leaving no room for the dust or harmful particles to get in.
With Coverking, you will always be proud of your special car.
Resource
