Caterham Cars Ltd, which has been producing lightweight, two-seater sports cars since 1973 when Graham Nearn acquired the tooling, designs and exclusive rights to the Seven from Lotus founder Colin Chapman, has announced that the Japanese mobility manufacturer
Yamaha Motor has joined as a development partner for its all-new electric sports coupe, Project V. Yamaha will supply its latest e-axle for the prototype model.
A year after the design concept was unveiled at the
Goodwood Festival of Speed, and later shown at Tokyo Auto Salon, the company is moving to the next phase of its plans to bring the car to market and commercial production. Project V will feature a lightweight, compact, electric powertrain developed by Yamaha, thereby staying true to the Caterham DNA of lightweight, simple, and fun-to-drive. Yamaha will also provide its technology and expertise in vehicle motion control. The prototype model is being developed by TOKYO R&D, a specialist engineering house with a proven track-record in ‘developing major OEM-commissioned prototype and production vehicles’. It is due to be completed by mid-2025.
Caterham says the collaboration with Yamaha will not only deliver ‘a powertrain to match the expectations of what an all-new Caterham should be’ but also accelerate the delivery of Project V to the market. Project V is being developed under the Caterham brand, part of VT Holdings based in Nagoya, Japan.
A British manufacturer, Caterham produces its cars exclusively from within the UK and in June this year moved to a brand new multi-million-pound facility in Dartford, Kent. Prior to that, it was situated in a factory, also in Dartford, where it had built cars in both assembled and kit-build form since 1987. As of 2024, Caterham is represented by over 30 official retailers in 15 key markets globally.