Report: Renault scraps plans for Alpine revival

Posted Wed Feb 25 2009 8:15 AM by Kenneth Hall

The 2006 Alpine 210 RS concept car shows a possible direction Renault could have taken for its new sports car

Despite the millions spent by Renault on its F1 team and its past success in the competition, translating these efforts to its production cars is largely a moot point because Renault’s lineup is seriously lacking in the sports car department. Renault currently uses the RenaultSport RS moniker for its performance models but there has been speculation in the recent past that there could be a revival of the legendary Alpine name.

Renault bosses have confirmed in the past that there are plans to bring back the Alpine name but a new report by Autocar claims those plans have been scrapped as the carmaker attempts to reduce its costs.

The information came from Renault COO Patrick Pelata who told reporters that the decision to scrap the Alpine plans was a direct “casualty” of the economic crisis. Pelata also revealed that Renault’s plans to move production of its next-generation Clio hatch to Chenai, India, had also been dropped.

The original motivation behind the decision to rejuvenate the Alpine badge was the success Fiat was experiencing with its Abarth label. Like Abarth, Alpine was an independent manufacturer of racing and sport cars that eventually merged with a major carmaker, in this case Renault.

Pictured above is the 2006 Alpine 210 RS concept car, a modern interpretation of the original Alpine race cars from the 1960 and ’70s.

Reader Comments

Fri Jul 18 2008 2:03 PM
fixionstudio says

nice, a french mr2
Sat Jul 19 2008 1:15 PM
Roy says

Yep, sign me up for a convertible version! Although it will probably be priced more like a Boxster.
Wed Feb 25 2009 10:56 AM
phil12321 says

Looks just lika a cayman or boxter in a convertible variant
Wed Feb 25 2009 2:03 PM
NoNameDenton says

Not very shocking, seems everyone is killing off high powered cars

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