Renault commits to Alpine brand

The future of Alpine is secure under a wide-ranging restructure that sees the reborn French sports car brand elevated to one of four central pillars within Groupe Renault going forward.

In his first major move as Renault’s new global CEO, Luca de Meo has emphatically ended speculation that the inaugural Alpine A110 mid-engined coupe would become a casualty of cost-cutting measures at the French car giant as it attempts to lift sales and return to profitability.

This means the hotter Alpine A110S, armed with an uprated 215kW (+30kW) 1.8-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder engine, remains on track for launch in Australia next year.

It also clears the way for development of other Alpine models to continue.

Not stopping there, the vote of confidence in Alpine could also herald a shift by Renault to leverage the historic brand name across Renault model lines, potentially running in conjunction with Renault Sport.

Under the restructure, Groupe Renault’s Formula 1 racing team becomes the Alpine F1 Team from the 2021 season, so the flow-down to road-going models makes sense.

Other than Alpine, the central pillars of Groupe Renault’s business under the new plan are Renault, which will be run by de Meo himself, as well as Dacia and a ‘New Mobility’ business unit.

The man in charge of Alpine is the head of Renault Sport Racing, Cyril Abiteboul.

Alpine’s core-brand status seems at odds with the need for boosting sales and profit, but de Meo says “the company needs to change its ‘game module’ and move from a search for volume to a search for value and profitability”.

“The organisation around four strong brands and large cross-functional functions would make it possible to work in a simpler way, more oriented to the markets and customers, with a team spirit, to seek the best possible result,” he says.

“This is an essential lever for the group’s recovery.”

As carsales reported in July, Renault is currently undertaking major surgery on its Australian line-up, which sees the axing of all mainstream passenger cars and focuses its attention on performance models – namely, the popular Megane RS and niche Alpine A110 – as well as SUVs and light commercial vehicles.

Stand by for other RS models to turn up before too long, including an all-new Renault Sport Clio – still to be officially confirmed – and RS versions of its burgeoning SUV range.

The SUV line-up will be bolstered by the arrival next year of the new-generation Renault Captur small SUV, the all-new Renault Arkana mid-size coupe-crossover – a replacement for the short-lived Kadjar – and a facelifted version of the Koleos mid-size wagon.