Caterham rides wave of revival as Japan owner seeks to ‘turn around’ UK sports car brand

Dealership entrepreneur and former racing driver Kazuho Takahashi says he can easily sell 1,000 Caterhams a year in Japan alone, as demand is so high

Nation is world’s third-largest car market, after China, US; many buy a sports car when children leave, pandemic ‘revenge’ spending also at play

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The new Japanese owner of the UK-based Caterham Seven sports car says demand is soaring in Japan for the iconic vehicle. Photo: Caterham

Published: 4:00pm, 27 Aug 2022

Japanese fans of the Caterham Seven are scrambling to purchase the iconic sports cars, built in the English county of Kent, as the brand rides a wave of enthusiasm in the Far East, the company’s new owner has said.

Kazuho Takahashi, founder and CEO of Nagoya-based VT Holdings Co., a major car dealer business, bought Caterham Cars Ltd in March last year. He says he intends to use his vast knowledge of the automobile industry to “turn around” a make that has been globally underperforming for years.

Takahashi’s firm took over importing Caterhams into Japan in 2008 and had been selling around 500 units a year, although demand is so strong now that double that number could easily be sold, he said.

The only brake on the brand in Japan is the time between a customer ordering a car and it being delivered, said 69-year-old Takahashi, who only announced his retirement from Super GT racing in late 2019.

Beyond Japan, Takahashi plans to launch the Caterham brand in other Asian markets and he is confident that drivers there will be just as receptive to the car.