Caterham Cars sell up!!!

[westy]

On a serious note....

OK what has someone done to Rob

[hilux]

Maybe the new management team with less links to the Lotus Seven will think outside the box slightly more and produce some interesting cars.

Spot in IMO.........  

I see a few people viewing the Radicals, Juno`s, XTR4`s etc and in particular the Ultima and considering that a `track` or `sports` car etc along similar lines with a Cateringvan badge is the way forward for the die hard lotusesque drivers.

I wouldnt be surprised to see an Elise competitor based upon existing chassis etc

FWIW

[jeff oakley]

The other thing to consider is that venture capatalists are usually only in it for three to five years and then want to sell on at a huge profit. So it may well be that there will be new models already in the pipeline and once these are launched and selling as they undoubtedly will to people with a "label" mentality, they will sell to someone else like a Russian billionaire like TVR, or a chinese company. Whatever the future changes probably have not ended.

[Yobbo]

Personally I would rather Chris Smith had bought them.

[Man On The Clapham Omnibus]

IMHO it's not Westfield that will be their target; it's Lotus. In my experience of people like this they always return to what they've done before and two of them are ex-Lotus.

[James]

I expected to come into work this morning and find this little gem upto 6 pages by know whats going on?

After carefull consideration of this over night I dont think Westfield should be worried as long as they carry on doing there thing I dont think they will have a problem, As Blatters says I think it would be an ideal time for Westfield to do some promational work but I expect they are way ahead of us on that one.

It does ask the question though when is a Caterham not a Caterham after all Lotus now bears no resemballance to the company that Chapman built its only a name that gets sold from one company to another every couple of weeks for a silly price.

Will all the new Caterhams still by that iconic school boy's dream car? we will have to wait and see I dont think this is going to be a good thing for the mark in the long run but time will  tell

As some one elese has mentioned there heratige is getting watered down a bit now, I think the westfield or Caterham argument can now only really be put down to the qualityof the car and im not sure that the caterham is significantly better to survive with its price's especially if the new management put them up which tends to happen in take overs such as this.

[Big Bad Ben]

I don't know enough to comment so I'll just copy and paste Sniff Petrol's report:

CATERHAM IS SOLD TO SOMEONE

The world of small, minimalist sports cars with numbers in their name was in shock this week with news that popular Lotus Seven maker Caterham has been sold. The new buyer is a group led by Anwar Sadat, the former president of Egypt who was assassinated in 1981. "That's right my friends," he said. "I own Caterham now", although on reflection this statement might actually have been made by Sniff Petrol's friend Mark doing a silly voice.

The price paid for the low-slung Surrey based firm has not been revealed, but sources say the new owners may have saved themselves some money by purchasing Caterham in kit form. However, whilst this may meant a reduced price, it also means the new owners will have to assemble the company themselves over the course of several weekends.

"This is not a problem," said someone close to the ground. "We have already received several large boxes containing the basics of Caterham and we have cleared a space in the garage ready to begin assembly. First we must lay out the offices, not forgetting to plumb in the lavatories before we attach the stationary cupboard to the back of the small kitchenette area".

However, some observers have been quick to offer words of caution: "I once built a kit car company myself," said one exdustry inpert. "Everything seemed to be going fine until I put the roof on the main office, then I realised some bits left over including two swivel chairs, five pot plants and a secretary."

Meanwhile, some commentators believe the biggest challenge will come when Caterham's new owners come to install plans for expanding the model range. Although Caterham is well designed and should be easy to put together correctly, adding plans such as these could cause a kink in what made the name famous and cause everything to become overstretched, ultimately b*******ing up the entire company.

BBB

[Blatman]

Bought it in kit form... PMSL...

[stu999]

Has the Dark Side seen this yet?  

[pistonbroke]

Love it  

Caterham PLC.  in a box

   

[StuartMackay]

When is the production being moved to Hethel, and how much will they get for the property in Dartford and Caterham town centre???  

[Mark Stanton]

Did anyone ever buy Robin Hood when it was put up for sale a while back        

[Martin Keene]

I'd go along with that. I'm not entirely sure this buyout a good thing. My usual dislike for change notwithstanding, the words venture capital, and the contrived nonsense about the incoming management all being from Lotus sends a shiver down my spine...

Venture Capitalist = Coporate Vulture's

Having worked for a company owned by Venture Capitalist's, it's not good news, far from it.

Venture Capitalist's like to run company's for about 3 years, usually spending the absolute minimum on investment they can get away with and then get rid of it any way they can to make a large sum of money. If that includes closing it down they so be it, they don't care.

It will be just a numbers game for them, and without wishing to seem pessemistic, I can't see them pouring loads of cash into R&D because they will have a plan to be out of the company before any of it pays off.

Having worked for these type of people I fear this may be the begining of the end...

They only positive may be that because Caterham's name is so well know, understood and respected that somebody with real enthusiam for the brand etc might come along and buy it when they Venture bod's decide they have had enough.

[oioi]

surely there plan must be to improve sales and sell as a going concern

like all caterham owners they will have paid a premium for the badge, they have to raise the brands value and then flog on

i would have thought the quickest/easiest way is to buy an existing chassis from someone (maybe road going juno?), bung a badge on and perhaps a different engine and flog

[Coxy]

"I once built a kit car company myself," said one exdustry inpert. "Everything seemed to be going fine until I put the roof on the main office, then I realised some bits left over including two swivel chairs, five pot plants and a secretary."

Confutious say 'secretary not permanent fixture until she been screwed on desk..'