Renault Alpine/Caterham

I had no clue this was going on until I read it in the Journal today.

Renault is going to revive its Alpine brand in a joint venture with Caterham.

Didn't Lotus just admit that it's impossible to build a successful low-volume sports-car-only brand?

IMHO, a recipe for spectacular failure. What does the hive mind think?

(hope this isn't a repost, surprised it's not on here yet)

This confuses me cause of the whole fact there is the Renault- Lotus F1 team and the Caterham F1 team. But yay Alpine coming back. Too bad I bet we won't get them here.

Renault needs to come back to the US.

93EXCivic wrote: Renault needs to come back to the US.

Well, Fiat came back, so this isn't as far-fetched as it seems.

I hope the styling is a bit derivative of former Alpine Renaults.

The one Mike & Edd re-did on Wheeler Dealers was a beautiful car.

This was the last Alpine Concept I heard of. Seems like a winner to me.

Also, video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF8xXrOtrQg

Supposedly has the same engine as the Megane Trophy, and since it's a tiny little thing, I bet it would haul ass.

peter wrote: Didn't Lotus just admit that it's impossible to build a successful low-volume sports-car-only brand? IMHO, a recipe for spectacular failure. What does the hive mind think? (hope this isn't a repost, surprised it's not on here yet)

No, I think Lotus admitted that it's impossible to build a successful low volume sports car company. Just doing the brand thing as an arm of a bigger company is a different ball game. I hope it works.

peter wrote: Didn't Lotus just admit that it's impossible to build a successful low-volume sports-car-only brand?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/business/businesstruth/5314300/Morgan-cars-Classic-reversal-of-fortune.html

Morgan does it and makes a profit.

I'm pretty sure Caterham is profitable, too.

Mind you, Lotus not being close to bankruptcy is probably news, the opposite not so much.

BoxheadTim wrote: I'm pretty sure Caterham is profitable, too. Mind you, Lotus *not* being close to bankruptcy is probably news, the opposite not so much.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-2174544/Caterham-profits-hit-brick-wall-economic-slowdown-dents-sales.html

Yup Caterham seems to be making money too.

Gotta remember the whole Lotus/Renault/Caterham/etc mess.

Lotus, the car company, decided to sponsor the team formerly known as Toleman/Bennetton/Renault. Tony Fernandes (Air Asia), a longtime Lotus racing fan, had already arranged to use the Team Lotus name from the folks who held the rights to that, which were separate from the road car company. Eventually they ended up in court, during which time Fernandes bought Caterham, and on this board we all know who Caterham are, with very old links to the racing side of Lotus through the Seven.

Anyhoo, the team now known as Lotus (Toleman/Benetton/Renault/Lotus) is now privately owned, and until this year had a direct sponsorship deal with Lotus, the road car company. However, Lotus failed to make any payments for a long time, and they are no longer directly involved in any way. the team has the right to use the name for a limited period of time as part of the separation agreement, so they are truly Lotus in name only.

In the meantime, Caterham, who are a real, small sports car company, apparently have cut a deal with Renault to build the next Alpine sports car. As a result, Tony fernandes is stepping down as Caterham F1 team principal to run the car company, new team principal from within F1 already selected but not yet named publicly.

Clear as mud?