Lotus has confirmed it has bought car manufacturer Caterham.

The team made the announcement in an event at the Duxford aviation museum.

Team principal Tony Fernandes said to “watch this space” for details on whether the move might lead to a re-naming of the team.

The Caterham Seven has been in production for over 50 years and is based on the design of the Lotus Seven.

Fernandes said: “Caterham has a unique place at the heart of the motoring world. As well as being proudly and staunchly British, it has an enviable and uniquely unblemished reputation within the industry for performance, handling and engineering excellence.

“Caterham Cars has remained wholly faithful to Colin Chapman’s philosophy of ‘less is more’, and the DNA of the original Seven can still be traced to the newest additions to Caterham’s product offering.”

Caterham’s managing director Ansar Ali said: “The acquisition of the company by Team Lotus Enterprise will allow our existing management team to take Caterham’s core spirit of pure driving enjoyment to a hitherto un-served audience.

“While the Seven will now have the global springboard it deserves and will continue to be evolved yet further, we also have the opportunity to expand the Caterham family beyond the Seven and SP/300.R and breathe new life into our uniquely respected brand and mature it into a truly global business.”