Alpine Develops Own EV Sports Car

Alpine and Lotus have decided to cancel their partnership on an electric sports car platform on amicable terms.

At the time, there was speculation that this would put the French company's plans for a performance EV to an end, but now it appears that the Renault-owned brand will be developing its own electric architecture.

 

Speaking to media representatives during the public debut of the Renault Rafale in Paris yesterday, Luca de Meo, CEO of the Renault Group, confirmed that Alpine will indeed be working on an electric platform internally.

"We had long discussions and finally decided to build our own platform," de Meo told Autocar during the Paris airshow where the Rafale was unveiled.

de Meo also confirmed that there will be more than one product to be based on this new EV architecture, which makes sense given the high cost of developing new foundations from the ground up and not sharing costs with other companies.

Alpine's original plan was to launch an electric sports car by 2026, but it is currently unclear whether this change in strategy will result in a delay in the launch.

As a reminder, Alpine and Lotus announced their partnership in 2021, which should focus on developing a joint electric sports car.

However, Lotus decided not to continue with the project, although future collaboration is still possible.

As for Alpine, it is slated to become an EV-only automaker by the end of the decade and will release five new models in the next five years.

In his interview with Autocar, de Meo confirmed that Alpine and Lotus parted ways without any hard feelings.

"There is no friction with this because everyone feels this is the best thing. It's not that we don't have the opportunity to work together again," the Renault Group told the publication, which also hinted at potential future cooperation between the two companies.

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