Tuesday 14th August 2012

Lotus to build Alpine and Infiniti concepts?

Why production of the Alpine A110-50 and Infiniti Emerg-E could throw Hethel a lifeline

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The Renault Alpine A110-50 mid-engined sports car concept may be set to reach production thanks to a brilliantly common sense joint venture between the French brand, its alliance partner Infiniti and in-need-of-a-break Lotus.

Lotus hybrid tech already underpins Emerg-E

The logic is simple. Lotus builds a production version of the Lotus Evora 414E-derived Emerg-E concept, which Renault also uses as a base for a production Alpine. Result? Two projects, of niche volume in the eyes of mass-market brands, become viable and Lotus wins much-needed extra production volume plus, presumably, a viable production version of the Evora 414E too. A triple win, then.

It's not often rumours make this much sense, but it seems the pieces are falling into place. Autocar this week reports Infiniti boss Shiro Nakamura has suggested the yet to be confirmed (and British-developed) Emerg-E "could be built in Britain."

This supports a conversation PistonHeads had about the Alpine with Renault marketing chief Steven Norman at the Geneva Motor Show back in March. Norman admitted "we probably won't do it on our own. It needs more than Renault-Nissan."

Range-extender 414E could be a lifeline

He told us Renault "won't make an Alpine to lose money." This is no vanity project - the business case has to stack up. Given the low volumes even building it on a platform sourced from the alliance with Mercedes, as has previously been rumoured, probably wouldn't work. The mooted Lotus deal could.

"The Alpine people are car buffs, they'll do everything they can to make it work," said Norman. The two barriers stopping it, he said, would be demand being too low or minimum standard costs being too high. An alliance with Infiniti and Lotus, more than any joint venture with Mercedes, may achieve this.

Norman also said the Alpine would be mid- or rear-engined. The mooted Mercedes 'baby SLS' SLC donor car is, of course, front-engined.

Could Lotus make the Alpine a reality?

That Lotus could offer a virtually off the shelf green sports car would also be of appeal. Renault, remember, has its corporate CO2 figure to think of. The brilliant British-developed Evora 414E concept, upon which the Emerg-E was based (and which Lotus is now testing), paired two in-wheel electric motors to a mid-mounted lithium ion battery and a Lotus-developed 1.2-litre three-cylinder range extender engine.

It works like a Vauxhall Ampera. The batteries drive the electric motors and, when they're flat, the engine takes over to top them up. The range is around 300 miles, exhaust emissions are minimal (55g/km CO2 is mooted) yet, with 408hp and 590lb ft of torque, performance would be in the sub four-second 0-62mph bracket with electronic torque vectoring to aid handling.

British know-how runs throughout Emerg-E

Not only could Britain make it viable, but British customers are at the centre of this project, said Norman. The UK "is a key market for this car." However, it will also be a global model, he explained. You don't find the required number of sales in Europe alone. The Evora, of course, is already homologated for sale in the US and China - the world's two biggest car markets...

When could it arrive? "If we can make the sums work, we could do it in 30 months," said Norman. So, high-tech range-extender Renault Alpine mid-engined green sports car for reveal at the Paris Motor Show 2014 and market launch in 2015? The bigger surprise may be if it doesn't happen...

[suffolk009]

It sounds like Lotus doing what they do best. Marvelous.

[DonkeyApple]

Seems like a good step forward if they can pull the deal off and deliver something saleable.

Lotus versions of Renault's standard model range?

[tinkertaylor]

so many possibilities

[Frimley111R]

Unfortunately I think this is just people putting 2 and 2 together to make 5. Its just speculation without any substantial basis. That said, I hope that it does work out like this.

[kambites]

So the Alpine becomes a sort of modern VX220 - a Lotus chassis with a different body on top? Probably not a bad thing if Renault/Lotus can keep the quality up and the price sensible.

I'm rather looking forwards to the range extender Evora, if it ever happens - I think it has potential to be the first decent, reasonably affordable, "green" sports car.

[TREMAiNE]

I love the Alpine, fingers crossed it makes production, it has the potential to be a class leading mid-range sports coupe!

However, I really don't think they should be pushing for green credentials with these electric motors when the technology just isn't up to scratch yet.
I don't have anything against electrics and hybrids, I just don't think they should be putting them into production until the technology is well developed, though I do understand the research us heavily funded by the sales of the current not-so-perfect green cars...

[kambites]

I think the technology for range extenders is reasonably well developed these days. It's just an electric car with less batteries and a petrol powered generator - nothing particularly new. If it's taking the Evora chassis, I guess they could also do a version with the current Evora S engine directly driving the wheels.

[DonkeyApple]

kambites said:

So the Alpine becomes a sort of modern VX220 - a Lotus chassis with a different body on top? Probably not a bad thing if Renault/Lotus can keep the quality up and the price sensible.

It's also an interesting angle that I hadn't considered, the combination of big manufacturers needing some ultra low CO2 cars but knowing that they will be low volume and that they are not geared up to produce light chassis etc, twinned with Lotus' experience and example of the Tesla and its proven chassis and proven history with the VX.

[Agoogy]

Very interesting, but who would you want to tune the chassis? Lotus or Renaultsport?
Would Lotus build and ship themback to France for some French input?
Or would the French try and learn a thing or two from Lotus Engineers?

[toppstuff]

I think this is great. It entirely fits with the Lotus ethos.

A hybrid Evora using primarily electric with a petrol motor to charge the batteries , Ampera style, would be awesome.

Price it right and it would sell.

I'd buy one.

[loose cannon]

excellent news !!
hope it gets the nod !!

[Frimley111R]

kambites said:

I'm rather looking forwards to the range extender Evora, if it ever happens..

It won't. It was only built to show off the tech. It's not meant to be a production model in its own right.

[chandrew]

Another reason why we might just see more of these deals is Lotus's ownership by DRB-Hicom, a major contract automotive assembler who already build cars for Mercedes (including some S classes), Honda, Isuzu and Suzuki. The COO comes from this background.

Suddenly Lotus bring not only engineering skills but also experience of manufacturing for some of the most quality-focussed companies. For a major manufacturer looking for a partner to help design and build niche models Hethel starts to look very attractive.

[Dave Hedgehog]

lets hope it happens

[kambites]

Frimley111R said:

kambites said:

I'm rather looking forwards to the range extender Evora, if it ever happens..

It won't. It was only built to show off the tech. It's not meant to be a production model in its own right.

But if they've got the technology, why not shove it in a car? It'd be a useful proper proof of concept if they want to sell the range extender system to other manufacturers and I doubt it would be hugely expensive to do (although of course I might be very wrong about that)?

[LaurasOtherHalf]

to be honest i'd have been more interested in the alpine A110-50 if it was based on the megane trophy tubular racer as the prototype was.

i am reading the article correctly? it seems to show pictures of the A110-50 but the text goes on an evora based inifinty?

[TheHeretic]

Emerg-E? Why didn't't they go ahead with the Essence? That was a stunning concept car.

[wemorgan]

LaurasOtherHalf said:

but the text goes on an evora based inifinty?

The Evora was just used as a mule on which to showcase the technology. It doesn't necessarily indicate the direction of the production car.

[KMB]

The Alpine concept looks great, I always coveted an A610 that lived down my road (but then again I also liked the Capri and Manta of the same period) :-)

[Twincam16]

DonkeyApple said:

Seems like a good step forward if they can pull the deal off and deliver something saleable.

Lotus versions of Renault's standard model range?

I reckon Infiniti's answer to AMG may be a better bet. People are already used to RenaultSport and they have a great reputation for hot-hatches, plus there's the Gordini brand occasionally used sur le Continent, it could all get rather confusing very quickly. Then again, if Renault wants to remind everyone where the Lotus F1 team's engines come from, a range of Lotus-Renaults could be the way to do it. Not sure what it'd mean for RenaultSport though.

Infiniti, on the other hand, has a solid foothold in the US and Chinese markets, their cars are of very high quality and sufficient brand presence to challenge Lexus and Mercedes, but no-one buys them because they're fun to drive.

Brutal Lotus Carlton-style makeovers should do nicely. They even do a fairly sleek, low-riding SUV that I reckon Lotus could make into a more convincing 'sports off-roader' than your average bloated slobwagon with a big engine.

I hope this works out as it could prove the turning point for Lotus. It also has the potential to make sense of the Evora. In normally-aspirated form it loses out to the 911 on performance, but as the basis of a high-tech eco-sports car that'll be bought by Hollywood types who would buy a Pious but also enjoy driving, it's spot-on.