Renault and Caterham Officially Join Forces to Resurrect Alpine Brand

It's no secret that Renault was looking for a partner to revive its Alpine sports car brand and now the French carmaker says it has found it in the Caterham Group.

The two companies made the wedding official today during a press conference in Paris where they announced the formation of a new 50-50 joint venture to develop both Alpine and Caterham-branded sports cars on common underpinnings and built at Renault's plant in Dieppe in northern France.

The Caterham Group will own a 50% stake in the Automobiles Alpine Renault company, which is currently owned 100 percent by Renault SAS. The Société des Automobiles Alpine Caterham (SAAC) venture will be created in January 2013 and will be headed by Bernard Ollivier, who became vice president of Renault in 2011.

Carlos Ghosn, Chairman and CEO of Renault commented: "This innovative partnership with Caterham embodies a longstanding ambition: the creation of a sports car with the Alpine DNA. It carries both opportunities for the Dieppe plant and the development of its historic expertise."

Read more »

New Alpine Berlinette Reportedly to be Co-developed by Renault and Caterham

Ever since Renault unveiled the stunning Alpine A110-50 Concept, the resurrection of the famous brand was almost a given, despite the fact that Renault COO Carlos Tavares insists that any decision won't be made until the end of the year.

Last August, Lotus was linked with developing the production version of the A110-50. It was a rumor, which at the time, made sense since the British carmaker has a lot of experience in developing projects for third-party clients.

Now, however, British publication Autocar claims that Renault has chosen Caterham, not Lotus, as its partner in developing the new Alpine Berlinette.

Read more »

Lotus Rumored to Build New Renault Alpine and Infiniti Emerg-e Sports Cars

In the past few months, Lotus has been making the headlines, but not for the right reasons. After Proton sold the British sports car maker to DRB-Hicom, CEO Dany Bahar was ousted and its future was once again thrown into doubt.

However, the Renault-Nissan Alliance may be the knight in shining armor that will give the Hethel-based company a new lease on life.

Read more »

Renault Alpine A110-50 Concept Shows its Metal at the Goodwood Hillclimb

For reasons that do not need to be explained to an auto enthusiast, the Renault Alpine A110-50 concept study is one of those vehicles that you can never really get enough of, which is why we're bringing you another video of the French sports car.

This film was shot during the Alpine A110-50's speedy drive up the famous hillclimb course at last month's Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Read more »

Renault Alpine A110-50 Concept Goes for a Ride with its Forefather

With aggressive looks and power to match, the Renault Alpine A110-50 is a worthy successor to the original Alpine A110 Berlinette from the 1960s, and one that most fans of the brand and not only would like to see moving into production.

For now, however, the A110-50 remains a working concept as Renault deliberates whether it will revive the Alpine marque, with a final decision to be made before the end of the year.

Read more »