Caterham sells F1 team

Caterham

The Caterham Formula 1 team has been sold to a consortium of Swiss and Middle-Eastern investors following a poor season so far in 2014.

Rumours that Caterham would cut its losses have been rife, since team founder Tony Fernandes threatened to quit if things didn't improve this year.

The team is currently bottom in the championship and Fernandes hinted of an exit last week, when he tweeted “F1 hasn't worked, but love Caterham Cars.”

Graham Macdonald, Caterham Group CEO:

“Firstly I want to thank everyone who was involved in the F1 team for all their hard work and dedication since the team’s first days in 2009. We have now secured an exciting new future for the F1 team with Dr Kolles that will allow the Caterham name to remain in Formula 1, giving us all the benefits of that exposure but also allowing us to focus our resources on new Caterham product development.

“The future for us now lies with all the exciting brands that make up Caterham Group. We will be looking to maximise the benefits of the F1 platform across all our brands, working closely with the new team owners, and our core focus is still on launching the brand new two-seat Caterham Car, a project we will be making more announcements about in due course.”

Caterham says that the sale of its F1 team will allow the company to concentrate on making cars, with its order books full until January 2015. Production of its Seven at its Kent factory will be stepped up in September 2014 to cope with worldwide demand for the two-seater sports car.

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By Andrew Brady, Motoring Research