Renault's Alpine performance brand is going all-electric, will co-develop new sports car with Lotus
Alpine will also launch an EV hot hatch and compact crossover by 2025.
Alpine is working on three new electric models.
As part of its Renaulution plan to restructure its brands and become a leader in electrification by 2025, Renault announced today that it's turning the Alpine brand into a fully electric performance brand. Renault's Sport Cars division (which produces Renaultsport versions of cars like the Mégane and Clio) and the Sport Racing division (which heads up the Formula 1 team) will both be absorbed into the Alpine brand as part of the restructuring.
Three new models are coming as part of the new plan, and all of them should be awesome. The first is a Ford Fiesta -size hot hatchback, which looks to have a boxy silhouette, a short front end and quad square headlights. The second model will be a compact crossover riding on the same CMF-EV platform that underpins the new Nissan Ariya.
It's the third one that we're most excited about, though. A fully electric replacement to the A110 sports car is on the way, and it's being co-developed by Lotus . Yes, that Lotus. From the small amount that we can see in the teaser, it looks very similar to the existing A110, which is fine by us -- the A110 is gorgeous. There's no word on what platform the A110 EV will use, but it's likely to be bespoke. The two companies say that the project will draw from Alpine's motorsport experience and Lotus' engineering expertise, with teams in both England and France working on the car.
The current Alpine A110.
This won't be Lotus' first foray into electric cars . The company is currently finishing development on the electric Evija hypercar, which is set to reach customer hands at some point this year. That stunner boasts nearly 2,000 horsepower, a light (for an EV) curb weight of around 3,700 pounds, a top speed of over 200 mph and a range of 215 miles on the WLTP cycle. Obviously the A110 EV won't have performance as insane, but the Evija bodes well for the engineering know-how that Lotus will bring to the project.
No exact timeline is given for the three new Alpine models, but they will all enter production by 2025. It also seems like future Renault performance models will gain Alpine badging instead of (or in addition to) Renaultsport badges -- a hot version of the new Renault 5, for instance. None of the new Alpine models is likely to be sold in the United States, but we're going to keep our fingers crossed anyway.
This news comes after the Renault Formula 1 team was rebranded as Alpine F1 for the upcoming 2021 season. Renault says it aims for the Alpine brand to become profitable by 2025, including its investments into motorsport, and the announcement seems to hint that the Alpine brand could re-enter the rally racing scene. At the very least, all future Alpine models will be majorly influenced by the experience of the F1 team.
