Now that Toyota and Subaru are working hard to bring the FT-86 to the market, Renault is joining the game. The French automaker told autocar that it could introduce an affordable rear-wheel-drive sports car in the next three years.
The company’s new head of design, Laurens van der Acker, said that the pathway for building the car is connected to Renault’s alliances.
The French company has had several attempts to produce such a vehicle under the Alpine name in the last decade. Alpine is a defunct sports and competition car manufacturer owned by Renault. However, none of the projects managed to reach the production phase.
“Any car maker with a product range as broad as ours should have room for an affordable sports car,” van den Acker told the aforementioned source. “The challenge to design a great driver’s car is very exciting. It won’t be easy to make a strong business case, but through Renault’s global alliances, I believe it will be possible.”
The future sports car could come with a front-mounted engine, as this is the layout used by Renault and Nissan for their current cars. However, Renault could borrow technology from its new partner, Daimler. The German company could provide the rear-engined platform of the next smart fortwo, with the move allowing Renault to offer an interesting vehicle.
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