Caterham Cars is a well known British automaker which specializes in lightweight sports cars and during the Formula One Indian Grand Prix the manufacturer has launched its very popular Caterham Seven in India. The company sells only one model but offers a series of performance packages for individual tastes and preferences.
Of course, being a new brand it would need to join hands with an existing firm here so as to smoothen its future operations and therefore they have tied-up with the Burmans, owners of Dabur India Ltd. The Indian branch of the firm will be known as Caterham Cars India and will be handled by the Burman Group and Caterham Cars India (CCI) CEO Matt Cummings.
image – Caterham 7 sports Car
Caterham Cars Managing Director Ansar Ali quoted :“We think we are entering India at the right time when the country is set to host its first Formula One race. Caterham being motorsports oriented, we think we can provide an affordable option to motorsports enthusiasts here”
During the launch, Matt Cummings said Quoted:“An initial investment of $ 5-10 million has been earmarked. This will cover setting up of an assembly plant and also carrying out different brand awareness campaigns here.”
image – Caterham 7 Sports Car Front Side View
After US, India will be the second country where the company wishes to set up an assembly plant and will be installed in Greater Noida. The company is willing to go a different way and wants to create a stronger bond with the customers here in India and for this it plans to conduct special drives at Buddh International Circuit and Madras Motor Sports Club. Later it would also consider setting up Caterham Academy which focuses on giving opportunities to potential racers to polish their skills and ultimately become professional drivers.
image – Caterham 7 Sports Car Front Side View
Coming to the car now, the Seven is a brand which is sold through four different models (just like Bajaj Pulsar being sold as Pulsar 135 to 220 etc.) All the four models i.e. Classic, Roadsport, Superlight and CSR can be bought on a built-to-order basis and are priced between Rs. 28 Lakh and Rs. 90 Lakh, depending on your preferences.
The Classic is available in a 1.4 Liter and a 1.6 Liter versions producing 105 and 120 BHP respectively. The Roadsport comes with a 1.6 Liter and a 2.0 Liter Ford engine producing between 150 and 175 BHP. The Superlight model which is intended for track and fast road usage uses similar engines as in Roadsport but achieves better power output levels, up to 263 BHP. The top end CSR model sports a 2.3 Liter Ford Duratec engine which produces 200-260 BHP.
Caterham also wants to introduce the limited edition Caterham SP300 super sports car in India in 2012. The car’s though sound a bit pricy but i must tell you that the Seven is one of the best racing machines we have on planet and is better than some of the most expensive sports cars. So performance will be no issue with this car but the pricing could disappoint some of the buyers, while it maybe an affordable option for some who are ready to shell out money for their sports driving passion.
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