The Alpine Business Unit development, Groupe Renault and Group Lotus have signed a pact to study a number of areas of cooperation, including the joint development of an EV sports car.
Under the agreement, Alpine and Lotus teams will leverage the resources, expertise and facilities of the respective entities in both France and the UK to conduct a comprehensive feasibility study for the joint engineering, design and development of an EV sports car.
Alpine and Lotus will also explore the development of joint services offer combining their engineering expertise in a collaboration that leverages Alpine’s motorsport platform covering Formula One to Formula E and Endurance.
Alpine was founded in 1955 by Jean Rédélé, a young man passionate about motorsports. The Alpine name became legendary when the Alpine A110 ‘Berlinette’ won the 1971 and 1973 Monte Carlo Rally. Today, Alpine is back with the new A110, a sports car faithful to Alpine’s timeless principles of compactness, lightness and agility, with one promise: driving pleasure. www.alpinecars.com
Laurent Rossi, CEO Alpine, 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.
The collaboration along with Alpine transformation marks the beginning of a new era in which Alpine name will line-up to the future.
“We’re putting F1 at the heart of our business, leveraging our in-house expertise and best-in-class partners such as Lotus to inject our cars with leading-edge performance, technology and motorisation”.
Group Lotus is based in Hethel, Norfolk, UK and part of Geely Automotive, the fastest growing automotive group in the world. Geely has a 51 per cent controlling stake, with 49 per cent owned by Etika Automotive, a Malaysian conglomerate.
Lotus Cars builds world-class, high-performance sports cars including the Evora, Elise and Exige ranges. In July 2019 it launched the Evija, the world’s first all-electric British hypercar which production will start in 2021.
Lotus Engineering provides a comprehensive consultancy service which works with many of the world’s OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers. It is internationally recognised for its long-standing contribution to ground-breaking automotive engineering and vehicle development.
Phil Popham, the CEO, Lotus Cars while commenting on the new agreement, said, “Today’s announcement is the first step in what is set to be a hugely rewarding collaboration between our iconic brands. We are proud to be working with Groupe Renault in this collaboration – sharing Lotus’ technical expertise and abilities, and leveraging our long track record of successful collaborations.
The two 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 sportscar is hugely exciting to companies, the fans and customers around the world.
“The joint-services element of our agreement will additionally make our engineering expertise available to those wishing to engage our innovations” , he said
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