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PARIS MOTOR SHOW: Alpine sports car decision in three months
Renault top brass pushing for Alpine exotic car; decision due before year's endRenault has confirmed its desire to revive the Alpine brand, and the company will make an official decision on whether to reawaken sports car marque Alpine before the end of 2012 says Renault's chief car designer.
"The decision for Alpine is going to be taken this year," said Laurens van den Acker at the Paris motor show last week.
As more details of the Alpine resurrection come to light – a plan spearheaded by Renault's second in command, Chief Operating Officer Carlos Tavares – it's now clear the major hurdle facing the revival of Renault's sports car brand is development cost.
Renault has been seeking a motorsport-savvy technology partner to help develop the first new generation Alpine performance vehicle, and when asked if Lotus was being courted, Renault's design chief refused to comment.
"They're looking for another partner to share the development costs [for Alpine] because on their own it would be too much," Mr van den Acker eventually said. "This is where the romantics are separated from the business side."
He indicated that the Alpine revival would collapse if a partner was not found, but smiled coyly and rapped on the table a couple of times, 'knocking on wood' in the hope the deal would succeed.
Indeed, Mr van den Acker made no secret of his desire to design a modern day Alpine: "Honestly I would love that we would do the Alpine."
Renault first hinted at its desire to rekindle the Alpine flame when it launched the jaw-dropping Alpine A110-50 concept car at the 2012 Monaco F1 GP earlier in the year.
Alpine launched its inaugural car – the A106 – back in 1955, and from the very first the brand's trademark was the use of rear-mounted Renault engines. In 1973 Renault bought the brand but if the French car giant does give the green light to a top-shelf sports car brand now, it will also need to decide how to badge it and how to position the vehicle/s.
"Is it a car, is it a Renault derivative or is it really a brand?" asked Renault's design boss.
"Until the future is clear for Alpine I want everything to come out of our studio to be recognised as a Renault. But if Tavares gets his way he would like to treat it as a brand, then we would obviously do away with the Renault logo."
Mr van den Acker said an Alpine production car would slot in somewhere between a Lotus and Porsche, and comments from other Renault heavy hitters have confirmed the extensive use of lightweight materials, such as aluminium.
"I think if we were to do an Alpine, the Alpine that lives most in the memory of people is the A110, and I think the core values of that car were lightweight, extremely nimble, frugal to a certain degree, and very intelligent, you know.
"It's not a Corvette, it's not even a Porsche in a sense, and it's not a Lotus Elise, it's somewhere in between," noted the design guru.
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Written byFeann Torr
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