Renault performance sub-brand Alpine is developing two electric crossovers for the United States market, the company’s CEO confirmed Thursday.
Alpine boss Laurent Rossi told journalists on a roundtable phone call the “US is the main destination for these cars,” reports Automotive News. The first will be a mid-size electric crossover, followed by a similarly designed full-size version, meant to compete against cars like the Macan and the bigger Cayenne. They’ll be the first Renault-built cars to be officially sold in the US since the early Nineties.
The new crossovers are a part of Alpine’s lofty $8.6-billion sales target for 2030, a number Rossi says is equivalent to a volume of 150,000 cars sold annually. Currently, Alpine sells just one vehicle: the A110, a mid-engine sports car built in a small French factory with a capacity of 6000 units. Just 3546 A110s were sold in 2022, according to Automotive News.
The French brand has big plans to expand its lineup, then. All future Alpine models will be electric, and its next car, the Renualt 5 Alpine, will be a hot hatch version of the EV set to go on sale in 2024. After that it plans to release a compact crossover in 2025, then an all -electric replacement for the A110 by 2027. That car, according to Automotive News, will be developed in collaboration with Lotus.
None of those three cars will be sold in the US, sadly, as it’s only the two bigger crossovers that are being designed with US and European markets in mind, says Rossi.
“We want to go to the US, which will create the bulk of the extra volume above and beyond the hot hatch and sporty car we are launching in 2025, and the successor to the A110,” he said.
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