Video: the Caterham Project V, a 268bhp electrified lightweight

Here’s some big British news for you – Caterham has unveiled a car with an actual roof. There’s more to the Project V concept than just its coupe shape of course, but for Caterham a tin top is a very big deal.

Looking a bit like a cross between the Caterham C120 (the sports car that never was thanks to a failed joint-project with Alpine) and the Jannarelly Design-1 (Caterham’s recently appointed chief designer is none other than Anthony Jannarelly), Project V is a small, lightweight and simple EV. Sounds promising.

At just over 4.2m long, 1.2m tall and a little under 1.9m wide, it’s obviously a fairly hefty departure from the Seven, but thankfully Caterham hasn’t been drawn into the bonkers electric hypercar power war. So, a single, rear-mounted motor sends just 268bhp to the rear wheels and there’s a 55kWh lithium-ion battery that can rapidly charge at 150kW. That should mean a 20 to 80 per cent top-up in 15 minutes and a range of around 249 miles.

The all-important weight figure? Thanks to a carbon fibre and aluminium composite chassis, plus composite body panels, Caterham is targeting 1,190kg – almost exactly the same as the combustion-engined Alpine A110. 0-62mph should take less than 4.5 seconds and top speed should be around 143mph.

To find out more about Caterham’s future, join Top Gear magazine’s Tom Ford for a full tour around Project V, guided by Caterham’s CEO, Bob Laishley.