Remember the Caterham Project V? It debuted last year at Goodwood Festival of Speed as a concept car built by Italdesign with an impressively low curb weight of 2,623 pounds. It was more than just a one and done exercise since the British niche marque has real plans to launch a production model. Today, we’re finding out Yamaha will power the electric coupe.
The concept is now evolving into a prototype engineered by Japanese firm Tokyo R&D. It should be completed by the middle of next year, with series production expected to commence at some point in 2026. Caterham doesn’t go into details about Yamaha’s electric motor, but we’ll remind you the Project V was rear-wheel drive with 268 horsepower on tap.
The showcar from Goodwood had a 2+1 layout but an optional 2+2 configuration was mentioned. Caterham touted a 0 to 62 mph in less than four seconds and a top speed of 143 mph. The coupe’s 55-kWh lithium-ion battery had enough juice for 249 miles in the optimistic WLTP cycle. The concept supported DC charging at 150 kW for a 20% to 80% charge in around 15 minutes.
Because concepts are typically diamonds in the rough, Caterham borrowed bits and pieces from other cars to speed up the Project V’s development without compromising quality. Examples include Maserati seats and the Audi TT’s door aperture. Some readily available parts will be installed in the road-going model to cut costs.
Even though it never built its own car, Yamaha is no stranger to the automotive industry. It teased us with a Miata rival in the mid-2010s that never went into production. Going further back, it helped Toyota develop the 2000GT in the 1960s before engineering and manufacturing Ford’s V-6 SHO and V-8 SHO.
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Perhaps the most well-known effort in the car world was Yamaha’s involvement in the Lexus LFA and its naturally aspirated V-10. The list goes on with a V-8 for Volvo as well as four-cylinder engines for the Toyota Celica, MR2, and the Lotus Elise. There was also the pint-sized Motiv concept and the aborted 1992 OX99-11 supercar that was supposed to go into production a couple of years later with a roaring V-12.
Yamaha hasn’t completely abandoned ICE technology. Recent efforts have included a golf cart and a buggy modified to run on a hydrogen-burning combustion engine.