Renault, Caterham form joint venture to build sports cars

Two lightweight two-seat sports cars, likely to be on sale in 2015 or 2016, will be the first output of a joint venture between French automaker Renault and U.K. sports car maker Caterham that was announced Monday.

Renault will put its Alpine factory in Dieppe and its 300-person workforce into the 50:50 joint venture. Caterham will provide expertise and investment as the two companies join forces to establish a new range of lightweight two-seaters.

"Following a feasibility study on the joint development of a sports car conducted by Renault Sport Technologies and Caterham, Renault and Caterham will combine their skills to build models in large and small volume, in order to widen their positioning on the sports vehicle market," Renault said in a statement. "The objective for each company is to launch its own vehicle in this market within the next three to four years."

The joint venture will cement the link forged between Caterham and Renault in Formula One, where the French engines power the British chassis. It marks a much deeper cooperation than when Renault partnered with the Williams team when the two were notching world championships in the 1990s.

The first output from Alpine Caterham will be an alloy-chassis two-seater inspired by the lightweight 1960s Alpine 110, known as a successful race and rally car that competed in the Monte Carlo and Le Mans 24 Hours.

Renault product boss Carlos Tavares has previously invoked the spirit of the 110 as the inspiration of the new sports car. He has suggested a price of 40,00 to 50,000 euros, or about $51,000 to $64,000 at current exchange rates.

That puts it in a different category to the supercar-inspired Alpine concept shown recently and built around a Megane Cup race car with a steel space frame and 400-hp engine.

Alpine and Caterham will have distinct versions of the lightweight rear-drive sports car. Renault may concentrate on a coupe body style, like the A110, while Caterham uses an open-top design.

It is not clear if the cars will be mid- or rear-engined. Renault's Tavares has previously only referred to a rear-drive configuration.

Mystery similarly surrounds the engines, although Tavares has been quoted on a power output around 250 hp.

The Alpine Caterham will possibly use variants of RenaultSport engines, most likely the new direct-injection turbocharged 1.6-liter unit tuned to 200 hp in the Clio RS. Another possibility is the 265-hp 2.0-liter turbocharged Megane Cup unit.

Many of the business details of the Alpine Caterham still remain secret, such as production levels. However, engineering work has been going on in the background.

Caterham, for example, has recruited a core of engineers from Lotus, including Elise guru Tony Shute. Mike Gascoyne has also joined Caterham.

Talks are also rumored to have taken place with British suppliers to Lotus and Aston Martin for alloy and composite parts.

That technology is rivet/bonded, although Renault's engineering history includes expertise for a welded alloy space frame, as used on the minimalist RenaultSport Spider of the mid '90s.

Other industrial hurdles have still to be jumped, though. Workers at the Alpine factory have still be transferred to the new joint venture, which unions might object to.

The Dieppe factory, however, is used to flexible working. It made the RenaultSport Clio and will make the new one, too. In the past it has helped make the composite-bodied Espace MPV and the soft-top Megane. Two lightweight two-seat sports cars, likely to be on sale in 2015 or 2016, will be the first output of a joint venture between French automaker Renault and U.K. sports car maker Caterham that was announced Monday.

Renault will put its Alpine factory in Dieppe and its 300-person workforce into the 50:50 joint venture. Caterham will provide expertise and investment as the two companies join forces to establish a new range of lightweight two-seaters.

"Following a feasibility study on the joint development of a sports car conducted by Renault Sport Technologies and Caterham, Renault and Caterham will combine their skills to build models in large and small volume, in order to widen their positioning on the sports vehicle market," Renault said in a statement. "The objective for each company is to launch its own vehicle in this market within the next three to four years."

The joint venture will cement the link forged between Caterham and Renault in Formula One, where the French engines power the British chassis. It marks a much deeper cooperation than when Renault partnered with the Williams team when the two were notching world championships in the 1990s.

The first output from Alpine Caterham will be an alloy-chassis two-seater inspired by the lightweight 1960s Alpine 110, known as a successful race and rally car that competed in the Monte Carlo and Le Mans 24 Hours.

Renault product boss Carlos Tavares has previously invoked the spirit of the 110 as the inspiration of the new sports car. He has suggested a price of 40,00 to 50,000 euros, or about $51,000 to $64,000 at current exchange rates.

That puts it in a different category to the supercar-inspired Alpine concept shown recently and built around a Megane Cup race car with a steel space frame and 400-hp engine.

Alpine and Caterham will have distinct versions of the lightweight rear-drive sports car. Renault may concentrate on a coupe body style, like the A110, while Caterham uses an open-top design.

It is not clear if the cars will be mid- or rear-engined. Renault's Tavares has previously only referred to a rear-drive configuration.

Mystery similarly surrounds the engines, although Tavares has been quoted on a power output around 250 hp.

The Alpine Caterham will possibly use variants of RenaultSport engines, most likely the new direct-injection turbocharged 1.6-liter unit tuned to 200 hp in the Clio RS. Another possibility is the 265-hp 2.0-liter turbocharged Megane Cup unit.

Many of the business details of the Alpine Caterham still remain secret, such as production levels. However, engineering work has been going on in the background.

Caterham, for example, has recruited a core of engineers from Lotus, including Elise guru Tony Shute. Mike Gascoyne has also joined Caterham.

Talks are also rumored to have taken place with British suppliers to Lotus and Aston Martin for alloy and composite parts.

That technology is rivet/bonded, although Renault's engineering history includes expertise for a welded alloy space frame, as used on the minimalist RenaultSport Spider of the mid-'90s.

Other industrial hurdles have still to be jumped, though. Workers at the Alpine factory have still be transferred to the new joint venture, which unions might object to.

The Dieppe factory, however, is used to flexible working. It made the RenaultSport Clio and will make the new one, too. In the past it has helped make the composite-bodied Espace MPV and the soft-top Megane.

By Julian Rendell