Alpine and Lotus to co-develop new electric sports car
British and French brands to build on shared lightweight focus for electric A110 successor
Alpine and Lotus will team up on the development of a new electric sports car which will serve as the likely successor to the Alpine A110.
Group Renault and Geely-owned Lotus have signed a memorandum of understanding to work together in a number of areas, including the joint development of the new machine.
Alpine and Lotus will now undertake a “comprehensive feasibility study” for the potential new machine, which will be developed using expertise from both Lotus and Alpine, which now incorporates the old Renault Sport division.
While no details of the machine or timeline have been given, the Alpine version will likely serve as the successor to the current A110 as the brand is transformed into a fully electric line-up. Lotus is also expanding its EV line-up, and the joint development will help the two firms to offset the high costs that will likely result from developing a dedicated lightweight electric sports car platform.
Both Alpine and Lotus has placed an emphasis on lightweight vehicles with nimble handling, and will try to ensure these are traits of any future electric sports car despite the weight required for the car’s batteries.
Alpine and Lotus will also look to develop a number of joint services to combine their engineering abilities, and ways of ‘leveraging’ Alpine’s motorsport projects.
Alpine boss Laurent Rossi said: “The signing of this MoU with Lotus shows the lean and smart approach we’re implementing as part of the new Alpine brand strategy. Both brands have an amazing legacy and we are most excited to start this work together, from engineering tailored solutions to developing a next-generation EV sports car.”
Lotus boss Phil Popham called the agreement “the first step in what is set to be a hugely rewarding collaboration between our iconic brands.”
He added: “Our companies have much in common – from a pioneering pedigree in light-weighting, to championship-winning sportscars which perform as impressively on the road as they do in the motorsports arena. It is a natural fit in many ways and the co-development of an EV sports car is hugely exciting for our companies, our fans and customers around the world.”
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