You would have known by now that the Lotus vs Lotus naming row is over, and in 2012 Lotus Renault GP will race as ‘Lotus’ while Tony Fernandes’ Team Lotus has changed its name to Caterham F1 Team. The AirAsia boss and friends bought over British sportscar maker Caterham back in April.
Caterham F1 Team has unveiled its new logo for the 2012 F1 season, which uses a familiar green background with yellow accents. Tony Fernandes explains that the name change makes perfect sense for him.
“With Team Lotus, I would have battled to the end if I felt it was the right thing to do, but when you take a dispassionate look at where we were it made absolute sense to start with a clean sheet, and Caterham has given us that chance,” he told the team’s magazine.
“It’s the best possible solution for where we want to go – partly because it gives us complete control over everything we do and, obviously, because there’s simply no point racing to promote a road car company I don’t own. The road car business has always been a sector I’ve wanted to explore and so here we are.
“But I can’t stress enough; this is a serious business venture for us. If I just needed a new name, I could have called it anything, but the synergy with Caterham works better – and it’s what I do – take a small business with the correct core values and purpose and expand it and grow it into the global marketplace.”
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I wish all the best to Tony for his Caterham venture. Nothing beats the English when it comes to their single mindedness in being a car purist. Something that is declining over the years as the lot of us trade efficiency for comfort and gadgetary. Its a dying heritage. Glad to see someone appreciates it.
Aussies are very close with their very manly land of the V8s though. That last sprint to the chequered flag in Sydney was astounding.
English engineering and Aussie grunt. That would be awesome.
You absolutely forgotten ze Zermans.
“…there’s simply no point racing to promote a road car company I don’t own..”
Yes Mr. Tony, you are a businessman and it was very obvious that you intended to takeover Lotus Group at one point but it didn’t materialised (maybe at RM1 the same way you bought Airasia). But anyway, since you have owned Caterham, it is the right decision to carry your own brand instead of meddling with other brand. Although I am not your biggest supporter but I do congratulate you for the establishment of Malaysian owned F1 racing team. I hope you will continue to inspire young generation of Malaysian that anything is possible.
… (maybe at RM1 the same way you bought Airasia)….
When he paid RM 1, if thats how much he paid; he bought all thier depts running to millions and all the problems of a company that was sinking and going down the drain. Its talent and know how is how one turns it around not to mention the right connections.
Tony is right, why do you want to put your heart and soul to built something when its not your, though I believe he would have made money from running it.
Maybe Tony could come up with some sharp handling road cars that rival the lotus (at more affordable prices too)? That will bring the rivalry to another level :)
Not the most impressive of logo design. Looks cheapish and weak and in certain conditions the script will be illegible. Whoever designed it should have been taught some basics about branding and design. A cheap MMU or Lim Kok Wing intern could have executed it better. Anyway good luck to the team. Its crunch time next season :)
That not really matter. Motorsports are business, as long as the sponsors logo are big enough on the car they can make millions
agree that this logo is not eye-catching at all! far from it, lousy design. Hope they will imprve the logo design but dont make it complicated, remember the best design is the simplest design.
Exactly!. Anyone with any understanding of commercial branding will agree. For a logo that is meant to represent a global brand for marketing in a prestigious platform like F1, the design is piss poor. The original ‘Caterham Motorsport’ logos were much better. Same also for the previous ‘Lotus Racing’ branding and logos
Who cares about caterham cars??!! Cheap thrill cars trying to play with the rich boys , dream on dude
This is for the rich kids who want to play in their backyard
Looks like history repeats itself. Caterham was born when Colin Chapman, Lotus founder decided to retire the Lotus 7, the famous minimalist open sports car. Caterham was at that time one of Lotus’s top dealers and decided to buy the rights to Lotus 7. Hence Caterham is born. Now, Caterham F1 came from the remnants of Team Lotus. Same design but just ditched the Team Lotus name. Doubt Caterham can really established its presence in Malaysia with its too minimalist open sports car. Imagine a motorcycle on four wheels and you are not too far off. Roof? Got but pretty much a bit leaky. Radio? Useless even if you have one with so much noise from everywhere. NVH is almost non-existent. Air-con? No place to put em. Not a car to bring out in those Jalan Tun Razak flash floods.
Despite saying all that, it is a blast in the right weather and driver. The Westfield SEight, with a powerful V8, another version of the Lotus/Caterham Seven is just so bad! Power to weight ratio better than any Ferrari or Lambo! Find a twisty road like the Great Ocean Road and heaven!
Already booked the white colour Bold. Really excited..Tak payah pedulikan Expat VN tu..cakap belakang beranilah..takde telo punyer orang..cuba suruh dia cakap depan sedare mare dia yg pakai Proton tu..sure makan pelempang punyer..