The Alpine brand is already being re-energized as a halo sports car brand by Renault with the rebranding of its works F1 team as Alpine. Now it is teaming up with Lotus to create an all-electric Alpine car. Lotus and Renault are no strangers as Renault acquired what was the Lotus F1 team which later this year will again be rebranded to Alpine.
This time around the intent is to create the successor to the Alpine A110 in an electric avatar. This one was announced late last week by Renault and Lotus – when both the manufacturers announced that they signed an MoU. “The signing of this MoU with Lotus shows the lean and smart approach we’re implementing as part of the new Alpine brand strategy. Both brands have an amazing legacy and we are most excited to start this work together, from engineering tailored solutions to developing a next-generation EV sports car,” said the two companies in a statement.
The Alpine A110 has been an iconic vehicle since 1963 and the teaser also points towards the vehicle retaining its iconic design language. The A110 will be the first such electric vehicle but there are six more in the works. Renault at its Renaulution event even showed off an electric version of a car which is being called the Renault 5.
Renault isn’t the only one all in on EVs. Like most of the auto industry, even Lotus is taking a radical approach towards electrification. It has been developing its Evija hypercar which costs $2 million. It has a 2,000 bhp all-electric powertrain which will come by 2025.
This partnership clearly has a lot of synergies as the revival of the Alpine brand and the rebrand of the F1 project comes with the intent of creating a virtuous cycle between the popularity of the F1 team driving sales of Alpine cars which would further fuel the F1 project. It also helps that the F1 team was till 2015 the Lotus F1 team.