Renault and Caterham have dropped plans for cooperation. It was reported by Autocar; however, there is no official word from the manufacturers yet. If the information proves true, the companies will produce two independent cars in 2016 instead of one joint sports car.
Back in 2011 the Malaysian businessman and the owner of Formula 1 team Tony Fernandes bought Caterham Cars, joined forces with Renault and decided to bring the company to the global market of sports cars. The company was called Société des Automobiles Alpine Caterham (SAAC) and was located in Dieppe, France. The supercar was to be revealed by the year 2016. But the plans have changed.
Now each company — Renault and Caterham — will have to demonstrate independent results. As reported by auto.vesti.ru, the sports car produced by Renault will be fitted with a 250-hp engine, while the engine of the Caterham vehicle will have additional 50 hp. The weight of both cars is about 1.1 tonnes. Given that it was a joint project initially, both cars might be based on the same platform, but there is no certain data yet.
Then again the cease of partnership between these two companies did not come as a surprise. Earlier this year Renault had to postpone the premiere of its production sports car which should have become the first model of the renewed Alpine brand. They had some problems with the design of the car which could affect the plans of Caterham and might have made them alter the construction of the vehicle.
According to f1news, back in 2013 the Caterham team took the last place in the Constructor’s Championship and Fernandes said they could drop out of Formula 1 in case they don’t manage to score any points in 2014: “If we are at the back, I don't think we're going to carry on,” he said in the interview to Reuters. “After five years and to get no points, there's a limit to everyone's patience, money etc."
It seems not only did the team reach the boiling point. What’s better — one car for two or two independent cars? Then again both companies are going to face some problems now. There are still almost two years left and then we will be able to see whether the “twins” turn out to be different and successful.
