Alpine is forging ahead with an electric A110 successor following news that the automaker wouldn’t develop the model with Lotus.
The decision was announced last month, but Alpine didn’t say much about the move other than it was a “mutual decision” that was “reached amicably.”
Renault Group CEO Luca de Meo has now shed more light on the subject as he revealed the automaker decided to build their own platform to underpin the model. Interestingly, the architecture won’t be limited to the A110 successor as it will also be used on at least one other vehicle.
More: Alpine And Lotus Pump The Brakes On Jointly Developed Electric Sports Car
de Meo told Autocar additional details will be released on July 26, but he reportedly hinted at the possibility of a “halo hypercar” that could presumably be based on the same platform that underpins the A110 successor. That remains to be seen, but building multiple vehicles on the same architecture should help to defray costs.
This has been a key consideration when it comes to sports cars and coupes, which typically sell in small numbers. Most famously, Toyota teamed up with BMW and Subaru for the Supra and GR86. It would have been somewhat similar with the Alpine and Lotus partnership, but it didn’t work out and de Meo told the publication “There was no friction … because everybody was feeling like this was the best thing.”
However, he reiterated the companies are open to working with each other in the future. One such area might involve Alpine crossovers, but that remains to be seen.
