Team Lotus buys Caterham Cars
- Thread starter Skeeter
- Start date
Well his intention was to use Lotus branding in F1 in conjunction with the road cars.
Then Bahar threw his toy out of the pram, big squabble over Lotus name use. Fernandes decided to buy Caterham and use that instead for the short term, he may well return to using Lotus in the future if possible.
At least that is my understanding.
Caterham actually went to Fernandes with an offer and he took it. Apparently he wasn't looking at them before that.
He still has the rights to use the Team Lotus name and will now augment that with Caterham sponsorship. His Air Asia GP2 team is now called Caterham Team AirAsia and I would imagine that it may change to Team Caterham at some point.
Ultimately he wants to start making production cars and with Caterham having the rights to the Lotus 7 it's a perfect deal.
He still has the rights to use the Team Lotus name and will now augment that with Caterham sponsorship. His Air Asia GP2 team is now called Caterham Team AirAsia and I would imagine that it may change to Team Caterham at some point.
Ultimately he wants to start making production cars and with Caterham having the rights to the Lotus 7 it's a perfect deal.
Buying Caterham has nothing to do with using them as a name in F1 if they lost Team Lotus. The team hasn't been renamed, Caterham is just a sponsor (like Lotus cars are to Renault).
They are seperate business ventures. And as said, Caterham approached Fernandes about investing in Caterham. However, now they own both, it makes sence to combine the 2 and use each the market the other.
The F1 team is Team Lotus and will remain Team Lotus. It is likely to become Caterham Team Lotus though.
They are seperate business ventures. And as said, Caterham approached Fernandes about investing in Caterham. However, now they own both, it makes sence to combine the 2 and use each the market the other.
The F1 team is Team Lotus and will remain Team Lotus. It is likely to become Caterham Team Lotus though.
Associate
not sure about that logo to be honest, i like the origional one. 
not sure about that logo to be honest, i like the origional one.
It has a feel of "last minute Word Art" about it...
I really want lotus to do well, they were the ones to beat at one point.
It isnt a british thing for me though, because everyone who knows anything about F1 knows british engineers run the show.
And as for the comment about the state of british sportscars, McLaren are releasing 4-5 new cars based on the new one, Lotus have a good range of cars as do caterham, Aston is british money again and then you have all the smart british firms who transform the foreigners into what they should have been in the first place.
I only wish that some of the independant companies would last a bit longer, the cars are alwasy good, but lacking the money and quality to play with the germans and the japanese etc
EDIT: Not to mention how many 'foreign' cars are designed by brits and even manufactured by us.
It isnt a british thing for me though, because everyone who knows anything about F1 knows british engineers run the show.
And as for the comment about the state of british sportscars, McLaren are releasing 4-5 new cars based on the new one, Lotus have a good range of cars as do caterham, Aston is british money again and then you have all the smart british firms who transform the foreigners into what they should have been in the first place.
I only wish that some of the independant companies would last a bit longer, the cars are alwasy good, but lacking the money and quality to play with the germans and the japanese etc
EDIT: Not to mention how many 'foreign' cars are designed by brits and even manufactured by us.
Soldato
I like Team Lotus 
.
Going back about five years (i.e. before Red Bull turned up on the scene) I always got the impression that Ferrari went fast by throwing endless amounts of money at the car, whereas McLaren went fast by clever engineering.
.Going back about five years (i.e. before Red Bull turned up on the scene) I always got the impression that Ferrari went fast by throwing endless amounts of money at the car, whereas McLaren went fast by clever engineering.
Associate
thats what we want to see. shame we don't see these brands at le mans like we used to. shame realy.
Blackberry were supposed to be close to signing last I heard. The report said that with the new deals either signed or nearly ready they should be pimping a £200 million budget next season which isn't to be sniffed at.
Yeah, if they get all the deals signed that they have lined up they will have the 6th largest budget in F1 behind RBR, McLaren, Ferrari, Renault and Mercedes. With a Renault engine and RBR gearbox, the only hole they have in their package is aero.
How long untill some big names in the technical and aero world get snapped up by Team Lotus?
How long untill some big names in the technical and aero world get snapped up by Team Lotus?
Not long I hope, the quicker their plans for an on site wind tunnel come to life the better. Out of all the "new" teams they certainly look to be on the right track with regards to money, people and a plan for the future.
They are also using Williams tunnels from this September to tide them over until theirs is done which will hopefully help them make progress.
No idea how up to date Williams tunnels are though.
Also they are looking for a few staff
http://www.teamlotus.co.uk/jobs
I'd love to see how many people who maybe follow one of the top teams would list Team Lotus as their second team. Like everyone supporting Brazil once their team gets knocked out.