A French pride that will soon no longer be produced in France? According to sources familiar with the matter, the Alpine A110 currently produced in Dieppe, the historic factory of the French sports brand of the Renault group, could be manufactured in Norfolk (East of England) by Lotus. This relocation would take place during the renewal of the model planned between 2025 and 2026, which will be 100% electric.
The ultra-sporty British brand had already been chosen to develop, in partnership with the French group, the new chassis for the future French “berlinetta”, the historic nickname of the Alpine A110. Lotus, a subsidiary of the Chinese group Geely, has just unveiled Eletre, an electric SUV. It is this model that should allow it to ensure its electrical transition.
Two other models made in France
The Dieppe plant will be entrusted with the production of an electric SUV still under the Alpine brand, in accordance with the announcements made on January 28, during the visit of the French Minister of Economy, Bruno Le Maire. The future Alpine compact, which will be a derivative of the future Renault R5, will, for its part, be produced in Douai in Hauts-de-France.
Contacted, Renault declined to comment on this information. Another internal source admitted that it was indeed a hypothesis but that no decision had been made. The successor to the A110 is not expected before 2025 but already the question of its production arises.
Resurrected in 2012, under the impetus of Carlos Tavares, then number two Renault group, the brand Alpine holds an important place in the Renaulution plan (from the name of the group’s recovery strategy initiated by Luca de Meo), which aims to seek strong unit margins.
A solid upmarket strategy
In the past, the Italian leader has already proven that he is very attached to these high-end label strategies. At Fiat, he had relaunched Abarth, and at Seat, he had created Cupra. When he arrived at Renault, he immediately saw Alpine’s potential to create value. He had also announced that it is Alpine who will now wear the colors of the group in Formula 1 to increase the notoriety and legitimacy of Alpine. In addition, Luca de Meo has just launched an “Alpine Spirit” finish on the Austral, its new C-segment SUV, which is to replace the Kadjar. The ambition here is to represent the most premium level of finish of this new model.
Alpine draws its Premium capital from the story of a famous pilot, Jean Rédélé (who died in 2007). He had founded his own brand in 1955 in particular to compete in car rallies. The first A110 was produced in partnership with Renault in Dieppe – where the pilot was from, between 1962 and 1977 – for a total of less than 8,000 copies in all. The A110 had been world rally champion in 1971 and 1973.