British sportscar maker Caterham is making its entry into India. The formal launch will take place towards the end of this week leading up to the Indian GP. Caterham’s CEO Ansar Ali revealed to Autocar India that the Indian operations will be backed by Gaurav Burman of the Dabur Group in partnership with Matt Cummings, a British commercial airline pilot. There are also talks of a US-based retailing partner, but the deal has not been finalised yet.
A launch during the race weekend is significant because, in addition to its road car business, the company supports Team Lotus and has plans for motorsport in India too. A Caterham Academy, similar to the one the sportscar maker runs in the UK, will be established to give owners a chance to race their Caterhams against each other in the single-make series.
Team Lotus boss Tony Fernandes bought Caterham in April this year and has plans to rename his Lotus F1 team to Caterham F1 next season, if the F1 Commission approves the change. In fact, one of the reasons for buying Caterham was to use the name for his F1 team due to the legal dispute with carmaker Lotus, which he won. Using the Lotus branding for his team doesn’t make commercial sense anymore as Lotus is not supporting the team monetarily and Fernandes can promote his own brand (Caterham) now.
Caterham makes two models, the Seven and the SP/300.R. Ironically the Seven is based on the Lotus Super Seven. It is available in several specifications for road and track use. The car has largely remained unchanged from the original Lotus Super Seven that was discontinued in 1972.