Alpine

Automobiles Alpine
Origin	France
Headquarters	Dieppe, France
Founded	1955
Status	Operating

The Société des Automobiles Alpine SAS, commonly known as Alpine, is a French manufacturer of racing and sports cars established in 1955.

Overview

The Alpine car marque was created in 1954. Jean Rédélé, the founder of Alpine, was originally a Dieppe garage proprietor who began to achieve success in motorsport with one of the few French cars that were produced just after the Second World War, the Renault 4CV. The company has been closely related to Renault through its history, and was bought by it in 1973. The Alpine competition department merged into Renault Sport in 1976 and the production of Alpine models ceased in 1995.

The Dieppe factory is known as the producer of Renault Sport models that are sold worldwide. This was originally the "Alpine" factory that Renault took over when they acquired the brand in 1973. Some of the Renault Sport models produced in Dieppe are currently the Mégane Renault Sport, Clio Renault Sport and the new Mégane Renault Sport dCi is to be built on Renault's Dieppe assembly line. All the RenaultSport track-, tarmac- and gravel-racing Meganes and Clios are also made in the Dieppe factory.

In October 2007, it was reported that Renault's marketing boss Patrick Blain had revealed that there were plans for several sports cars in Renault's future lineup, but stressed that the first model would not arrive until after 2010. Blain confirmed that Renault was unlikely to pick a new name for its future sports car and would probably go with Alpine to brand it. Blain described it as being a “radical sports car” and not just a sports version of a regular model.

The new Alpine sports car was to have a version of the Nissan GT-R's Premium Midship platform.

In France, there is a large network of Alpine enthusiasts clubs. Clubs exist in many countries including the UK, USA, Australia, and Japan.

In February 2009, Renault confirmed that plans to revive the Alpine brand have been frozen as a direct result of the 2008–2009 global financial crisis and recession.

In May 2012, images of a new Renault Alpine concept titled as Renault Alpine A110-50 were leaked prior to its debut in Monaco. Its styling was based on the Renault DeZir presented in 2010.

The Alpine marque was relaunched with the 2017 introduction of the new Alpine A110.

The Renault F1 Team is due to be rebranded as the Alpine F1 Team from 2021.

On December 10, 2020 Alpine and MV Agusta announced that they would make a special edition of the MV Agusta Superveloce influenced by the Alpine A110 called the Superveloce 800 Alpine, they would be approximately 110 models made.

In January 2021, Alpine announced that they were going to develop a range of electric cars in partnership with Lotus.