TWO of the world’s most revered sportscar specialists, Lotus and Alpine, are coming collectively in a brand new strategic partnership to discover the opportunity of co-developing a brand new electrical sportscar.
No timeframes for the feasibility examine or eventual product launch have been revealed but with the 2 companies this week signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that may see them pool their respective assets, amenities and experience not solely within the growth of a brand new mannequin but additionally aftersales service.
The partnership might show notably fruitful for Alpine with Lotus at the moment forming a part of the Geely group which is rapidly rising as one of many electrical automobile (EV) powerhouses, having simply debuted an all-new modular platform – the Sustainable Expertise Structure (SEA) platform – in September.
As beforehand reported by GoAuto, the SEA platform will underpin a big selection of fashions from a number of big-name manufacturers underneath the Geely umbrella together with Geely, Proton, Lotus, Volvo and Polestar.
Alpine in the meantime varieties a part of the Renault group (Groupe Renault) and subsequently falls underneath the umbrella of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi ‘Alliance’ which is making its personal inroads into electrification.
Each manufacturers take the same strategy in growing their respective sportscars with automobile weight, or fairly the dearth of it, being the first ingredient on the best way to most agility and driver involvement.
Lotus CEO Phil Popham described the brand new partnership as a “pure match” and mentioned the co-development of an electrical sportscar was “massively thrilling” for each firms in addition to their followers and prospects.
“At present’s announcement is step one in what is ready to be a massively rewarding collaboration between our iconic manufacturers,” he mentioned.
“We’re proud to be working with Groupe Renault on this collaboration – sharing Lotus’ technical experience and skills, and leveraging our lengthy monitor file of profitable collaborations.
“Our firms have a lot in frequent – from a pioneering pedigree in light-weighting, to championship-winning sportscars which carry out as impressively on the highway as they do within the motorsports enviornment.”
Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi was equally as optimistic and mentioned the collaboration would mark the start of a brand new period for the model that might take its line-up into the long run.
“The signing of this MOU with Lotus exhibits the lean and good strategy we’re implementing as a part of the brand new Alpine model technique,” he mentioned.
“Each manufacturers have an incredible legacy and we’re most excited to start out this work collectively, from engineering tailor-made options to growing a next-generation EV sportscar.”
Underneath Groupe Renault’s newest ‘Renaulution’ strategic plan, Alpine shall be reworked right into a fully-fledged EV efficiency model for the group with Renault Sport Vehicles and Renault Sport Racing each set to be amalgamated underneath the banner.
Such is Renault’s dedication to the thought, it has already rebranded its Components 1 workforce into the ‘Alpine F1 Group’.
Lotus in the meantime is inching ever nearer to launching its 1471kW Evija hypercar which shall be adopted by a brand new all-electric SUV.
Alpine offered simply seven examples of its A110 mid-engined sportscar final yr – the one mannequin it makes – marking an 80 per cent downturn on the 35 it shifted in 2019.
Against this, Lotus loved some marginal gross sales development final yr, delivering 59 autos throughout its three-model vary in comparison with the 57 it managed the yr prior.
