Alpine, the Renault group's sports brand, aims to maintain strong sales growth of its only car, the A110 premium berlinetta, in 2023, while waiting for new models to come on stream in subsequent years.

In 2022, Alpine sales climbed 33% to 3,546 units, more than doubling in two years.

"We're going to increase production by around 20% normally (and) we'll be (...) making good progress in 2023", said Emmanuel Al Nawakil, Worldwide Sales Director, during a press teleconference.

In order to fully exploit the potential of the 1973 world rally champion brand as part of the "Renaulution" strategic plan, Renault group CEO Luca de Meo has decided to regroup all the manufacturer's sports activities within Alpine and to expand the range.

Starting next year, the brand will offer a small electric city car derived from the new Renault 5, followed by two other electric models: a compact SUV in 2025 and a new A110.

The SUV will be a key element in Alpine's expansion and in achieving a positive operating margin by 2026 for the brand, which is still loss-making today.

"We know that we're going to exceed the minimum ten thousand units (on the SUV) to achieve a satisfactory market share and decent profitability," said Laurent Rossi, Alpine's Managing Director, during the press teleconference.

The arrival of this model will also lead to a doubling or tripling of production volume at Alpine's Dieppe (Seine-Maritime) site, he added.

Such volumes will help the Renault group to turn around sales that are still sluggish in 2022. And Alpine won't stop there: Luca de Meo has commissioned exploratory work for two large SUVs in the D and E segments, probably electric.

On all future models, Laurent Rossi says the schedule is on track. "We're on schedule," he said.

(Gilles Guillaume, edited by Blandine Hénault)