Renault Group is leaning toward developing the platform for its new Alpine sports cars on its own rather than pursuing co-development with Geely’s Lotus Cars, according to people familiar with the situation.
The French automaker’s engineers have sufficient expertise to make the platform, which the company views as a key piece of rebooting the Alpine brand, said the people. Lotus is controlled by China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, which this week doubled its stake in Aston Martin.
Renault CEO Luca de Meo has been working to turn around the French company, which includes boosting Alpine’s allure and pushing to electrify the brand.
As part of that plan, he rebranded the company’s Formula One team as Alpine, and will grow the brand from a single model, the A110 sports coupe, to a full line of full-electric cars, starting with the A290 small car. It will be followed by a compact SUV, and in a few years, a midsize and large crossover.