Crawley-based Caterham Cars (www.uk.caterhamcars.com) saw its sales grow by 8% in 2017, with orders for 667 cars taken — 51 more than the year before, and its best performance in 21 years.

This rounded off a successful 60th-anniversary year for the Caterham Seven, with the landmark moment being the 60 limited-edition retro-racer Seven Super Sprints selling out in seven hours at the Goodwood Revival event.

Another important step for Caterham in 2017 was the appointment of Global X-Sports as the distributor for the whole of Latin America.

Graham Macdonald, Caterham’s chief executive officer, said: “The 60th anniversary of the Seven was always a year we intended to celebrate and reflect on our incredible heritage, but it has surpassed our expectations.

“This is a tough time for the automotive industry, with economic uncertainty and the continually evolving EU emission changes, but that’s why it’s an even more exceptional achievement to secure the orders we have.”