Team Lotus Enterprise’s purchase of British sportscar maker Caterham Cars was announced earlier today, bringing its number of businesses to four, joining the Team Lotus Formula One squad, EQ8 energy drink and Team Lotus merchandise and licensing already in the TLE portfolio.
The acquisition by Tony Fernandes, Kamarudin Meranun and SM Nasarudin, the men behind the Team Lotus Formula 1 squad – from the shareholder consortium led by Corven Ventures – will not only signal the continued development of the legendary Seven, but will provide Caterham with the platform to apply its philosophy of ‘adding lightness’ to exciting new models in the future.
Caterham, custodians of Colin Chapman’s two-seater Seven since 1973, will continue to be led by the company’s existing management team, headed its managing director, Ansar Ali.
“This is yet another exciting chapter in the Caterham story. Until now, the resources Caterham has had at its disposal have, naturally, limited the exposure of the Caterham experience and the legendary Seven has had to rely almost entirely on its remarkable reputation and legacy,” he said.
“We will remain entirely true to the philosophy that we, as custodians of one man’s motoring concept, have protected for nearly 40 years,” Ali added. “However, the acquisition of the company by Team Lotus Enterprise will allow our existing management team to take Caterham’s core spirit of pure driving enjoyment to a hitherto un-served audience.
“The Seven will now have the global springboard it deserves and will continue to be evolved yet further, and we also have the opportunity to expand the Caterham family beyond the Seven and SP/300.R and breathe new life into our uniquely respected brand and mature it into a truly global business,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Fernandes said that the plan was to take the brand to new, exciting horizons and greater exposure globally.
“Caterham has a unique place at the heart of the motoring world. As well as being proudly and staunchly British, it has an enviable and uniquely unblemished reputation within the industry for performance, handling and engineering excellence,” Tony Fernandes said.
“Caterham Cars has remained wholly faithful to Colin Chapman’s philosophy of ‘less is more’, and the DNA of the original Seven can still be traced to the newest additions to Caterham’s product offering.”
“It is already a successful business with sales across Europe, Japan, Australia and the Middle East, and under the guidance of the existing management team, we now have all the ingredients and the launch pad to further evolve that spirit and take Caterham to new exciting horizons with innovative products and greater global brand exposure,” Fernandes added. Sounds like they’re gearing up for a big push, then!
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I would love to see this cars being produced in malaysia for the local/asean market
now everyone can drive a sports car! come on TF, please bring Caterham to the mass, as you did with air asia.. leave the the lotus to fight with ferrari, porsche and lamborghini as they wish.
why they use other people’s name claim as their’s…i really do not undestand…
if they name it as Azamiruddin F1 Team or Azamiruddin .. guess what happen next?
I will sue them…how do you know they will use it for good reason or bad reason…
ko ingat ko je yang bername ‘azamiruddin’ dlm dunia nie yee??
Now TF can say to P1, “I am more Lotus than you are”. :-D
I will sue….
Aku pun tak faham kenapa Tony Fernandes nak guna nama Lotus. Tapi kita boleh cuba memahamkan diri bila Proton beli MV Augusta pada harga sekurang-kurangnya RM350 juta ringgit dan kemudian dijual balik pada harga RM5. Itu kita kena cuba fahamkan.
if i remember correctly, mv was sold coz there was an over 200million debt tied to it.. whoever who bought mv at 1 euro, inherits the above debt.
Bring caterham to Malaysia and make them super duper affordable. I’ll be in the queue!
having enough cash..u can do almost everything…even buying over someone else pride…intresting
price like saga? LOL!
caterham not that cheap as u think.. if u expect to get at kancil price, dream off.
aiya. No “Now Everyone Can Race” edition ka? :(
Hahahah TF bought a company that makes cars that he can’t fit in. What a Joke!!!
sweet. proper track car coming our shores.
This team surely has identity crisis. Malaysian or British?
Group Lotus is Malaysian or British?….as usual most people who drop their opinions here are biased one side….double standard.
There are Caterhams here already for a number of years now though somewhat a rare sight. You can see them off and on in Sepang occasionally on the road. There is an importer already.
Proud of Tony Fernandes, Kamarudin Meranun and SM Nasarudin!!