Caterham Wants To Resurrect Its Stillborn Sports Car

Caterham is allegedly eager to make a fully enclosed sports car, potentially based around its stillborn C120 concept co-developed with Alpine.

Speaking with Autocar, Caterham boss Graham MacDonald said that the sports car maker is sad to have seen the C120 project get scrapped after its relationship with Renault soured, but, if a new project partner can be found, it could be revived.

A new, much more practical Caterham will broaden the brand’s appeal and sit above the iconic Seven in the firm’s range.

“We’d love to have a full-bodied sports car, because when we take the Seven to some of the new emerging markets, they don’t recognise it as a car because of the way it looks”, MacDonald said.

He added that a new engine would be sourced from an outside manufacturer, but that a Ford EcoBoost engine wouldn’t be used, despite the Seven receiving engines from the American marque, as any new sports car would be powered by a naturally aspirated engine.

“ The Seven is 60 years old next year. While we love and cherish that, we have to think about the future. It’s important to get the right engine and product for our customers. It has to have Caterham DNA. We are talking to Ford and a number of other manufacturers. While the 620 is supercharged, we like naturally aspirated engines”, he said.