Alpine teases electric sports car plans after Lotus breakup

After abandoning previous plans to collaborate with Lotus on an electric sports car platform, Alpine will continue to develop its own architecture for an electric A110 successor.

According to Renault Group CEO Luca de Meo, the platform will be built with the aim of underpinning more than just one model.

Speaking to Autocar, De Meo said: ​​“We had a long discussion and finally decided to build our own platform.”

While it is unclear if the electric architecture will venture beyond sports cars into other segments, optimising the platform to support multiple vehicles will help Alpine recoup the costs previously shared with Lotus.

De Meo reportedly hinted at the possibility of a halo hypercar riding on the platform, telling reporters, “You never know.”

Initially, Alpine planned to use Lotus’s E-Sport platform to underpin the A110 replacement.

Now that the A110 replacement will ride on a bespoke EV sports car platform developed in-house by Renault, it’s unclear if it will still make its intended 2026 debut.

Alpine will hold an investor day on July 26 to reveal its future lineup and plans for electrification.

De Meo maintained the dismantling of the partnership with Lotus was amicable.

“There was no friction with the thing because everybody was feeling like this was the best thing,” said De Meo.

The Renault Group appears to have left the door open for potential future collaboration, with De Meo saying, “It doesn’t mean we don’t have opportunities to work together again.”

Speaking previously to Autocar, Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi said “Lotus and us share the same preoccupation, which is trying to make light, agile sports cars while obviously adding weight and electrifying.”

Last month’s joint statement by the brands reads: “Lotus and Alpine have been collaborating on a future EV sports car vision for more than two years, during which time a strong relationship between the two companies has developed.”

“We have decided not to progress with the joint development of a sports car for Alpine. This is a mutual decision reached amicably, and we will continue to discuss other future opportunities,” it adds.

It is unclear what the dissolution of the partnership means for Lotus’s Elise successor, codenamed Type 135, which was also planned to run on the platform.

Alpine aims to produce only electric cars from 2026, with plans to release five new EVs within the next five years.

The Lotus-based A110 successor was meant to be the third new vehicle in the reimagined Alpine range, coming after the A290 hatch based on the upcoming retro-influenced Renault 5 on the CMF-BEV platform, and the GT X-Over crossover expected to use the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi CMF-EV architecture.

Alpine has reportedly considered completing the five-car lineup with two larger SUV models, the architecture for which will also require collaboration with an outside firm.