The memorandum of understanding will involve a number of areas of cooperation.
One area will leveraging Alpine’s motorsport experience in Formula One, Formula E, and Endurance.
While we all know Lotus, Alpine might not be as familiar. The French company has long had an association with Renault and is a manufacturer of sports and race cars. Both have extensive experience in the fields of performance and motorsports. Their plans to jointly develop an electric sports car will undoubtedly produce something extraordinary.
Lotus Elise | Photo: Lotus
There are no other details on the joint projects. CEOs of both companies have the following to say about the newly established collaboration:
Laurent Rossi, CEO Alpine, said: “The signing of this MoU with Lotus shows the lean and smart approach we’re implementing as part of the new Alpine brand strategy. Both brands have an amazing legacy and we are most excited to start this work together, from engineering tailored solutions to developing a next-generation EV sports car. This collaboration along with our transformation mark the beginning of a new era in which we’ll be taking the Alpine name and line-up to the future. We’re putting F1 at the heart of our business, leveraging our in-house expertise and best-in-class partners such as Lotus to inject our cars with leading-edge performance, technology and motorisation”.
2020 Alpine A100S | Photo: Alpine
Phil Popham, CEO, Lotus Cars, added: “Today’s announcement is the first step in what is set to be a hugely rewarding collaboration between our iconic brands. We are proud to be working with Groupe Renault in this collaboration – sharing Lotus’ technical expertise and abilities, and leveraging our long track record of successful collaborations. Our companies have much in common – from a pioneering pedigree in light-weighting, to championship-winning sportscars which perform as impressively on the road as they do in the motorsports arena. It is a natural fit in many ways and the co-development of an EV sportscar is hugely exciting for our companies, our fans and customers around the world. The joint-services element of our agreement will additionally make our engineering expertise available to those wishing to engage our innovations.”
