Renault CEO Luca de Meo plans to further expand the brand value of Alpine, Renault’s 65-year-old subsidiary brand that was brought back to life a few years ago. He uses Ferrari and Porsche as a frame of reference for this.
De Meo does not think it inconceivable that Alpine can become a ‘mini Ferrari’, he tells journalists from Bloomberg. Success in motorsport is essential in this. Alpine’s ambitions don’t lie. Renault recently announced a true motorsport offensive with its relatively small subsidiary brand: Alpine will compete in both the World Endurance Championship and Formula 1. Cyril Abiteboul, Renault’s current F1 team principal, will lead Alpine.
In his major restructuring plan, De Meo already announced that Alpine would become more independent. That picture now seems to be confirmed. As Alpine’s brand equity continues to increase through the motorsport activities, the margin per car can also grow and the brand eventually becomes more profitable. That’s the idea, at least.
Sporty EVs
De Meo also says that Alpine will add ’emotion’ to Renault’s electric line-up. What that will look like is not yet known. In an internal memo, he mentioned a ‘Porsche 911-like’ program, with a whole range of sporty EVs. The CEO clearly draws inspiration from major sports car brands for the strategy. In addition, Alpine will never become a volume brand, according to De Meo. “It wouldn’t be reasonable to think that with Alpine we can make a million cars a year,” said the CEO.