Renault, Caterham Part Ways Over Direction Of Alpine Joint Venture
Though a new Alpine is set to come out in 2016, the new car will be lacking in English blood: Renault and Caterham have broken off their engagement to revive the historic French marque.
Autoblog reports the joint venture dissolved amid tensions over development of a pair of sports cars that were set to debut in 2016. Renault and Caterham first came together to build the cars in November 2012. At the time, the latter’s Formula One team ran the former’s engines, and team owner Tony Fernandes wanted to do the same for the Caterham 7. From there, the Société des Automobiles Alpine Caterham was formed under the roof of the Alpine factory in Dieppe, France, and had delivered the A110-50 concept in the brief time the two entities worked together.
Regarding the future, both automakers will pursue building their sports cars separately, though they hinted that “other forms of cooperation” could come about given the right conditions. The joint venture will be renamed Société des Automobiles Alpine during a general meeting this month.
Seattle-based writer, blogger, and photographer for many a publication. Born in Louisville. Raised in Kansas. Where I lay my head is home.
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I really want to see what the new Caterham can come up with, besides another 7. Would be nice if they could score a point in F1 too. Sad but I don't think either will be.
I would imagine there are few who remember Alpine, and even fewer clamoring for a new one. I loved the 90s (poor quality) one though. Along with the Venturi Atlantique. http://data.motor-talk.de/data/galleries/47259/5836556/renault-alpine-gta-a610-4191.jpg http://www.carstyling.ru/resources/entries/3670/Venturi_Atlantique_300_1996-2000_04.jpg
The classic was the original Alpine A110 Berlinette: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpine_A110http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpine_A11 Awesome little car, Monte Carlo Rallye winner, weighed less than 1600 lbs.