Renault Eyes Off US Sales Push For Its Alpine Sportscar And F1 Brand

Transportation Renault Eyes Off US Sales Push For Its Alpine Sportscar And F1 Brand Michael Taylor Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Long experienced in auto journalism, Taylor is based in Italy. Following New! Follow this author to stay notified about their latest stories.

Got it! Nov 9, 2022, 07:29am EST | New! Click on the conversation bubble to join the conversation Got it! Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Frenchman Estaban Ocon fought off Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel and seven-time World Champion . . .

[+] Lewis Hamilton to take Alpine’s first Formula One win in Hungary last year. Alpine could be planning its US launch with a range of electric vehicles. Photo: Bryn Lennon/Getty Images Getty Images French automaker Renault wants to leverage a new generation of North American Formula One fans by bringing its Alpine sportscar brand to the US.

At a business plan reveal yesterday, Renault CEO Luca de Meo hinted it was looking to push electric and combustion versions of upcoming Alpine sportscars and passenger vehicles to the US. It also hopes to push the low-volume Alpine brand into an IPO some time after it becomes a stand-alone company in 2024. The new Renault plan will deliver Alpine a new midsized EV in 2027 and a larger crossover EV a year later, with both the US and China in the brand’s crosshairs, as de Meo pushes Alpine to become “a high-end sports car brand with global reach”.

de Meo changed the name of the eponymous Renault Formula One team to Alpine only last year to build up brand awareness ahead of increasing its lineup and spinning it off to operate independently. The light-weight, nimble Alpine A110 was launched in 2017 and remains the brand’s only production . .

. [+] model. Photo: Gerlach Delissen – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images Corbis via Getty Images Alpine (technically known as Société des Automobiles Alpine SAS) currently sells only the low-volume A110, which it launched in 2017, but de Meo’s Renault future plan involves five-seat sedans and SUVs as well as pure sports coupes.

MORE FOR YOU Meet The Unknown Immigrant Billionaire Betting Her Fortune To Take On Musk In Space Best Practices Used By CIOs To Drive Successful Digital Transformations Fixing Food Production: Are We Too Late? Alpine could also be Renault’s last real shot at establishing a premium position, something it has repeatedly failed to do despite more than a dozen genuine and well-funded attempts in the last two decades. “The fact is that Renault is a volume brand, but Alpine is a different game,” de Meo said. And it’s a different game backed by not just a global Formula One audience, but a new generation of younger fans brought in via Drive To Survive on Netflix.

Formula One itself claims its 2021 global audience was 1. 55 billion people. “Alpine was at a dead end two years ago,” De Meo said.

Alpine A110s were brilliant rally cars in the early 1970s, taking the World Rally Championship for . . .

[+] manufacturers ahead of Porsche, Ford and Lancia in 1973. This is Jean-Claude Andruet on his way to third on the Rally of Monte Carlo in 1971. Photo: STF/AFP via Getty Images AFP via Getty Images Alpine began in France’s Dieppe in 1955, and won the World Rally Championship for manufacturers ahead of Porsche, Ford and Lancia with its A110 in 1973, famously finishing first, second and third on the Monte Carlo Rally.

It was bought by Renault during the Oil Crisis in 1973, and refocused to win the Le Mans 24 Hour race in 1978 with its Renault Alpine A442B turbo. Follow me on Twitter . Check out my website .

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