Thou Renault had won F1 a number of times, splurging huge advertising budgets in proving Henry Ford's theory of "Win F1 today, sell a van tomorrow"; and with excellent track go-karts such as the Megane R26, Clio V6; Renault hardly reminds us of being related to sporty, the image that comes to mind are always cheeky MPVs, mini cars with dull interiors, the very mention of 'Renault' reminds us of colors like sky blue, light grey and dull.
And Renault executives believes this is the real problem with the brand, not enough cars competent enough to sell, but the image of the brand as a whole; taking inspiration from Alfa Romeo's famous marketing tactic on re-entering the North American market (Cutting all A&P budget and developed the 8C Competizione). Renault will be looking at producing a sports coupe.
And this reminds all 40 year old and above of the Renault Alpine series, a sports coupe series that achieve cult status among enthusiasts, last seen in year 1991.
It's rumored that Renault will be using Nissan's Infiniti G37 platform (upcoming Nissan 370z) to develop the new Alpine (which is no bad news).
Check out photos of a rendered Renault Alpine Concept from Arseny Kostromin that rings the bells of the 1969 Renault Alpine A110; and also a couple of Infiniti G37's photos.
