Renault and Caterham to develop affordable sports cars

Renault and Caterham are to join forces to create new, more affordable sports cars under the Alpine badge.

The two groups will establish a jointly owned new group – Société des Automobiles Alpine Caterham – under the leadership of Bernard Ollivier and will develop models to be sold as both Renault Alpine and Caterham.

Tony Fernandes, Caterham Group Chairman, said: "We know the markets we are going into and, particularly in my playground in Asia, there is a huge opportunity to replicate the AirAsia model and give consumers access to exciting, affordable products that marry our interests in F1 and technology and help make their dreams come true."

At this year's Monaco Grand Prix Renault unveiled the Alpine A110-50 concept, which was seen as a relaunch of the brand despite it being essentially a reworked version of the Renault-branded DeZir concept from the 2010 Paris Motor Show. The A110-50 featured various Alpine design cues and was built on the platform of the RenaultSport Megane Trophy racecar. This could well be the case for the new range of sports cars.

The new Alpine cars will be different from Renault's current range and will be showing a Caterham badge. We can expect to see the first vehicle ready for introduction by 2016 according to Renault's Chief Operating Officer Caros Tavares.

By Rufus Thompson