It has emerged that if the upcoming Alpine sports car proves successful, bosses from Renault hope to add an SUV to the relaunched Alpine range.
It is reported that development of the Alpine SUV is already at its advanced stages and on track for a launch in 2018. It will sit alongside Nissan’s upcoming Z-badged sports crossover within the Renault Nissan Alliance.
Powering the Alpine SUV is tipped to be a hybrid powertrain combined with an all-wheel drive system, as you’d expect. If the car comes to fruition, it’s most obvious rival would be the upcoming Lotus crossover set to launch by the end of the decade in China and then, if popular, elsewhere around the world.
While previously speaker about the possibility of an extended Alpine model range, Renault design boss Laurens van den Acker said “As with many things we need to have a good business first. We all love Alpines but we all want to make money as well. Let’s get the first car right and then I hope I can start doing Alpines for the rest of my life.”
As for the Alpine sports car, it will be inspired by the recent Celebration concept and could utilise a 1.8-litre turbocharged engine pushing out 300 hp.
