History
Strap in, take a deep breath
and prepare yourself.
In 1957, the genius moustache wearer that was Colin Chapman built a lively little two-seater sports car. The car was designed to be ‘fit for purpose’ – Chapman wanted owners to be able to experience the joy and pride of building their own car and then take it on track.
To that end, he came up with the mantra “Simplify, then add lightness” and the Seven was born.
Over sixty years on, Caterham – which acquired the rights to build and develop the Seven from Chapman in 1973 – is still adhering to Chapman’s original philosophy and is still turning out variants of the Seven that don’t so much shout ‘fun’ at you, as grab you by the lapels and scream it in your face.
With a line-up of models that range in power from 125bhp to 310bhp, each car weighing just over 500kg, Caterham’s eight Seven variants features something for every taste, every level of driving experience. Production of Caterham’s unique British cars is exclusively from within the UK- from start to finish, with the end goal, still being, to reduce weight and increase power.
But one thing that remains constant–- whether you’re getting behind the wheel of the relatively sedate Seven 270 or the face-meltingly swift Seven 620R – is fun.
At Caterham, we’ve always put the driver experience at the very heart of what we do. Just as Chapman did over 60 years ago, we are committed to reducing weight, increasing power and giving our customers a thrilling drive whether on the road or on the racetrack- as part of our acclaimed series of one-make motor racing championships.
True to our ethos, we’ve created more than 1,000 brand new racing drivers through our Caterham Academy programme, but the Seven has a knack for making you feel like a hero wherever you drive.
1957

1959

Graham Nearn creates Caterham Cars, located in Caterham Hill, Surrey.
1965

1973

1995

2000

2005

2007

2008

2012

2012

2013

2016

2017

2018

2020

Caterham starred in The Grand Tour's "A Massive Hunt", with James May using a 310R with off-road modifications to travel across Madagascar.
2021

2022

2023

Japan
UK
USA
Germany
Austria
Belgium
Czech Rep
España
France
Italy
Netherlands
Nordics
Portugal
Switzerland
Taiwan
UAE