All-new 2026 Caterham EV imminent
Seven maker targets new buyers while continuing to “apply the same philosophy"
Caterham will showcase its most radical model in decades — a stunning electric two-seat sports car entirely unrelated to the Seven — in a matter of months, DrivesToday can exclusively reveal.
As first reported by DrivesToday last year, the Kent-based car maker — now with the backing of Japanese firm VT Holdings — has plans for a totally new model to serve as the spearhead for its transition into the era of electrification.
While it was “just an idea in people's heads” in September, plans have fast progressed and the new design will be showcased in the coming months as Caterham marks its 50th anniversary.
Leading the design programme is new design chief Anthony Jannarelly, best known for the W Motors Lykan Hypersport and his own Jannarelly Design-1 — a retro- styled, rear-driven sports car with a Nissan V6 and an ultralight, Le Mans-inspired body.
Working in partnership with Italdesign in Turin, the Frenchman is using this project as an opportunity to “please the existing Caterham fans while also trying to reach another type of audience" for the brand.
Creating this «bridge», as he put it, is a “big responsibility”, but he is “not nervous, because it's exciting".
“I would say at the end it’s an exciting moment. My main hope is people will understand the message coming from Caterham,” he said.
This message is that Caterham’s principles can be carried into and successfully embodied by a completely new product, irrespective of its positioning and the nature of its powertrain.
“The principle is always lightness," Jannarelly told DrivesToday. “What everybody loves about the Seven is that it’s a simple car that just works, and even if we're making an EV, we will try to apply the same philosophy. It's very simple. There will be no fancy features. The main thing isyour enjoyment in driving this car.
“We're trying to make it as light as possible. So the performance which we will [get] out of it will bejust great. And the driving pleasure is a consequence of this lightness. The key words a re always simplicity, lightness and driving joy.”
The brand's enthusiast appeal has also had a strong influence on the new car’s conception, said Jannarelly: “What do you get when you get a Caterham? You get something different than from other cars. If you buy a Caterham, you’re someone a bit more daring; you're not a mainstream person. And that's something I’d like to put into the future model."
Jannarelly has almost total freedom with this car, because the function-over-form Seven “has no styling” as such.
“The next car we're going to make is the first car where we can really apply what could be the ‘Caterham styling’, which was not a fact of the Seven, which came from the Lotus [7]," he explained.
Beyond confirming that it won’t have a long bonnet and won’t be “bulky", Jannarelly stopped short of giving strong clues as to the shape and size of the new model, although he did point to the slimness and simplicity of an EV architecture as facilitators for improved packaging and compactness.
Jannarelly’s commitment to lightness and simplicity tallies with Caterham CEO Bob Laishley’s passion for maintaining the brand's hallmarks.
“This will definitely not be a Seven,” Laishley previously said about the EV. “But it will have all the characteristics today’s Caterham customers know well: lightness, simplicity, agility and performance.”
He continued: “Like the Seven, it will have a steel spaceframe — but a different one — because they’re easy to modify in production if you need to. It will have a six-panel enveloping body in aluminium or carbonfibre: two sills, two doors plus clamshell openings front and rear. It will be prettier and more modern than a Seven — those will be big points of distinction — and maybe it will have a roof. We're designing it as a pure EV from the start, with rear drive only, and it will be registered under SVA rules.”
It's not yet clear if Caterham will reveal a concept car or a pre-production prototype this year, but Laishley hinted at a plan to build the EV in a new factory — recently opened in Dartford — at greater volumes than the Seven and for it to have a higher base price.
Caterham hasn’t suggested an on-sale date for the new car, but VI Holdings CEO Kazuho Takahashi's eagerness to see it reach production suggests it could come as soon as 2026.
EV will be Caterham’s first non-Seven venture since ill-fated 21 of 1994