Renault's Alpine to launch F-PACE SUV rival

Alpine will follow up a production version of its small Vision coupe concept with a far larger SUV that will rival Jaguar's F-PACE and Porsche's Macan, according to new reports.

Confirming our report from last year, the Alpine SUV is likely to be co-developed with Renault's alliance partner Nissan, and will be the "most agile and fun to drive in its class", says Alpine boss Michael van der Sande.

Speaking to Autocar, van der Sande said it was "inevitable" that the reborn French brand, famous for its sports cars, would expand its initial single-model range from a small Porsche Cayman rival into other segments.

“To build a brand, you need a product line-up that maintains demand.

“Alpine was always about launching a brand, not just a sports car.”

It’s rumoured the Alpine SUV has already been approved for production and van der Sande admitted to the British car magazine that the Renault-owned brand was already considering "six or seven" different proposals for future Alpine models,

Explaining how an Alpine line-up of cars would look, van der Sande said: “The sports car is our core, and when that is established it opens up possibilities to do anything. The only prerequisite is that any car we launch will always have the target of being the most agile and fun to drive in its class. We want great handling, light weight and agility. If we can achieve that, then any class of car can be an Alpine.”

Helping share the cost of developing a sporty SUV to rival a Macan, it's been widely rumoured the French car-maker will benefit from Nissan's performance division that has already begun work on a production version of the 370Z-replacing SUV concept shown at last September's Frankfurt motor show.

Despite being significantly smaller than an F-PACE, the Gripz -- which could be on sale in Australia as early as 2017 -- is based on the Renault-Nissan CMF platform.

Although the Gripz is shorter than a Nissan JUKE, the CMF platform is flexible enough to also underpin the big Renault Talisman sedan, so a mid-size SUV based on the same platform, engines and transmissions won’t be a problem.

To help save costs further, it's likely that the future Alpine will be twinned with a larger Nissan Z-car that will sit above the Gripz to help pay for the cost of developing things like the vehicle’s all-wheel drive and plug-in hybrid system that will be crucial for some European markets.

The Alpine SUV is expected to go on sale some time in 2019.