Caterham’s bold new vision

This is Caterham's vision for the future of its car range, says Ollie Kew in Car magazine: the AeroSeven. It is an attempt to drag its ageing Seven template itself based on the old Lotus Seven from the late 1950s into the 21st century.

At least one thing hasn't changed: the car will still be phenomenally quick. And as we've come to expect from Caterham, it is rather spartan inside and yet "rather beautifully finished too".

The design has been aerodynamically optimised using F1 technology, the engine-management system is controlled by toggles mounted on the steering wheel "in the best F1 tradition", and the new central graphic display shows engine speed, current gear, road speed, plus fuel and oil levels, as well as the traction-control setting, rendered in a 3D display.

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For all the fancy technology, such as "a body that is something more than a wrapper to keep the rain off the oily bits", the "basic philosophy of the Caterham remains comfortingly in place", says Tom Ford in Top Gear.

The AeroSeven will be light, fast 62mph will be reached in less than four seconds and involving to drive. This is an exciting new direction for Caterham. The company is, it turns out, "just as much a born survivor as the cars it produces". It'll go on sale in late 2014.