Renault leans toward own tech rather than Lotus on Alpine, report says

Renault Group is leaning toward developing the platform for its new Alpine sports cars on its own rather than pursuing co-development with Geely’s Lotus Cars, according to people familiar with the situation. 

The French automaker’s engineers have sufficient expertise to make the platform, which the company views as a key piece of rebooting the Alpine brand, said the people. Lotus is controlled by China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, which this week doubled its stake in Aston Martin.

Renault CEO Luca de Meo has been working to turn around the French company, which includes boosting Alpine’s allure and pushing to electrify the brand.

As part of that plan, he rebranded the company’s Formula One team as Alpine, and will grow the brand from a single model, the A110 sports coupe, to a full line of full-electric cars, starting with the A290 small car. It will be followed by a compact SUV, and in a few years, a midsize and large crossover. 

Renault in 2021 announced a collaboration with Lotus on a platform for the A110 replacement, which would be full electric and is expected to appear by 2027. 

The Alpine decision is unlikely to soured relations with Geely, with which Renault partners on other projects, said two of the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information.

A spokeswoman for Alpine said the company is still in discussions with Lotus about the project and the company will communicate a final decision in due course. A spokeswoman for Renault declined to comment. Media representatives from Lotus didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Meanwhile, Renault’s talks are ongoing with AutoNation to start Alpine sales in the U.S., the people said. The two larger future models would target that market, Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi has said.

An initial public offering of Alpine is a possibility in the longer term, De Meo has said. The company also is reviewing possible investors to help fund its development, he said. 

Alpine sales rose 33 percent last year to 3,546 cars, compared with Renault’s total shipments of about 2.1 million vehicles.