Caterham boss leaves firm

Caterham Group CEO Ansar Ali has left the firm by mutual consent, with Caterham Cars CFO Graham Macdonald being promoted to take his place.

Ali leaves after seven years with the firm, controlling Caterham Cars since a management buy-out from Caterham founders the Nearn family in 2005.

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In that time, he has transformed Caterham into a genuine global brand, leading its entry into Formula 1 and securing the future of the firm with “a fundamental shift in the engineering focus of the business”.

This will result in new Caterhams in the future, as the brand moves away from its roots in selling versions of the original Lotus Seven.

Macdonald leads a Caterham Group that includes Caterham Cars, Caterham F1 Team, Caterham Composites and Caterham Technology & Innovation. He’s played a key role alongside Ali in driving the transformation and Caterham Group chairman Tony Fernandes is confident he has the right man.

“Graham is the perfect person to take over and lead the company and his experience and dedication will help us make a smooth transition into the next chapter of the Caterham Cars story.”

Fernandes also praised Ali. “I want to take this chance to thank Ansar for everything he has done for the Caterham brand over many years.

“Without his leadership Caterham Cars would not be the world renowned, profitable business it is today and we would almost certainly not be working under the Caterham name if he had not initiated the discussions with us that led to the enviable position Caterham finds itself in today.”

Ali, a former Lotus manager, is expected to reveal his next move soon.

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