Caterham's 2+2 Project V sports car has landed in Las Vegas at the 2026 Consumer Electronics Show in show car form before a working prototype shows up later this week at the Tokyo Auto Salon, but its time in the U.S. won't be temporary, with global sales scheduled for 2027. That includes America. Speaking with Car and Driver, Caterham Cars' overseas representative, Justin Gardiner, revealed that the company is "going to take America very seriously as of this week," adding, "We are looking to sell a lot of these over here." Inspired by the Lotus Elan +2, the Project V will be aimed at the likes of the Porsche 718, which means it won't be cheap (more on that later), but it also means a focus on driving fun, despite electric power.
Caterham is Tackling Electric Sports Cars Differently
The Project V discards the idea of over-digitalizing the cabin of a car, as is common with so many new cars, electric or otherwise. Instead, it has physical knobs and real gauges with needles. The only screen is there for smartphone integration and to provide the legally mandated rearview camera, and the seats sit very close to the ground thanks to the Project V's liquid-cooled Xing Mobility battery backs are in the front and back of the chassis (a layout intended to mimic the driving feel of the minimalis Caterham Seven), rather than in a skateboard pack beneath the cabin, like most EVs.
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Caterham has also elected to use an off-the-shelf Yamaha Motor 200kW 400-volt rear e-axle with an inverter, reduction gear, and permanent magnet synchronous motor all-in-one, keeping things as simple as possible. Speaking of simplicity, Gardiner said, "We're just going for the minimum amount of traction control that we absolutely have to have. Because this is a new car, it will have to have ABS, it will have to have traction control, and it will have to have airbags [...], but we are keeping it as simple as possible. One motor, rear wheels, that's it."
Fun-to-Drive, But Expensive to Buy
Gardiner explained the choice of battery type, saying "Caterham drivers like to thrash the hell out of their cars," so the company focused on discharge time rather than charging time. "If somebody's draining those batteries really, really fast, a lot of EVs go into limp mode because they're overheating," said Gardiner. "We know our customers are going to do that. We just know they are. So we have to make the battery packs work." Project V is currently aiming for a 0-62 mph time of less than 4.5 seconds, with a top speed of 143 mph, and Gardiner says that although Porsche's electric 718 Boxster and Cayman will have a lot more power, "they won't be as much fun to drive." Unfortunately, despite keeping things as simple as possible, the original target price of a little more than $107,000 has been readjusted to around $135,000, but if the Project V feels anything like the Seven, it could be a revelation to drive. As Gardiner says, "There's nothing more fun than a Caterham."
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