Photo: Renault
Renault and Caterham have today officially announced that they will be joining forces with the sole purpose of developing sports cars. More specifically, Renault’s Alpine brand will co-develop its future cars with the famed British sports car maker, and the latter will also own 50% of Automobiles Alpine Renault company, as of January 2013, currently full-owned by the parent company.
They say that the brands will make ‘distinctive’ and ‘differentiated’ cars, yet they will not be built in Britain, but rather at the Alpine plant, in Dieppe, France. This is very exciting news for all European car fans, who undoubtedly know the importance of the two names, in European sports car history, and their joining of forces can only bring good things for both. Furthermore, this ensures that the Dieppe facility stays open in the future, as it would have probably eventually gone under the axe, with the way the economy on the Old Continent is, right now. The operation will also receive substantial support and incentives from the French State.
The COO of Renault, Carlos Tavares: “Our ambitions of reviving Alpine depended on our ability to find a partner in order to ensure the economic profitability of such an adventure. Right from the start, we wanted to place the Dieppe plant at the heart of the project. Today, through our partnership with Caterham Group, we can enter a new phase: the design of a car that will embody the very essence of Alpine, a vehicle that will rekindle sporting passion once more. It could become a reality within the next three or four years.”
The COO of Renault, Carlos Tavares: “Our ambitions of reviving Alpine depended on our ability to find a partner in order to ensure the economic profitability of such an adventure. Right from the start, we wanted to place the Dieppe plant at the heart of the project. Today, through our partnership with Caterham Group, we can enter a new phase: the design of a car that will embody the very essence of Alpine, a vehicle that will rekindle sporting passion once more. It could become a reality within the next three or four years.”
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