Caterham Becomes Caterham Group Uniting Four Companies Under Caterham Banner

Caterham started building variations on the Lotus 7 in 1973, when its founder bought the rights to the car from Colin Chapman. Caterham started as a Lotus dealership. In 2011, Team Lotus, which uses the Lotus name under license from Proton, bought Caterham to form Caterham Group. The former Team Lotus Formula 1 team will be known as Caterham F1 starting next season. Caterham Group has announced that there will be four divisions to carry the Caterham name going forward: Caterham F1, Caterham Composites, Caterham Cars and Caterham Technology & Innovation. It is possible that more entitites could be entered in the future. The announcement for the new group of companies came at the 2011 Brazil Grand Prix.

"We have been talking for some time now about our plans for Caterham in all its guises, from the road car company to Formula 1 and GP2, and in the technology, design and innovation fields. Now, with the announcement about the rebranding in Formula One to Caterham F1 Team for 2012 and beyond, we are in a position to give a much more in-depth explanation of how the Caterham Group is taking shape," said Tony Fernandes, chairman of Caterham Group.

Caterham Cars is expanding into India and China and is planning its first all-new car in 2014.

Caterham Technology & Innovation is acting as the company's engineering arm. It is working directly for Caterham Cars and Caterham F1, but it is also doing engineering for outside companies as well.

"With those four arms in place, and more to be announced in due course, we have a dynamic group of businesses already working together that gives a clear vision of what our long-term strategy is in their respective fields, and as one entity under Caterham Group," said Fernandes.

Hopefully, Caterham is not trying to do too much too quickly. While Caterham's new owners are clearly optimistic about the new company. Caterham is a boutique sports car maker that existed for nearly 40 years making basically a single model.