Alpine Confirms A Supercar Is In The Works

Yesterday, after months of rumours and speculation, Renault announced that it’s ending its Formula 1 engine programme at the end of next year. 2026 will mark the first time since 1988 that there won’t be a Renault powerplant on the grid, with Alpine – Renault’s factory team and currently the only outfit to use the French manufacturer’s engines – set to buy in powertrains from another supplier.

After a couple of seasons of underperformance, it’s a rather sad end to an engine programme that’s claimed a raft of World Constructors’ Championships for various teams. However, it might make for a brighter future for Alpine’s road cars.

Renault has announced that its F1 engine plant at Viry-Châtillon, on the outskirts of Paris, will be transformed into ‘Hypertech Alpine’, a new ‘engineering centre of excellence’ for the wider Renault group. It’s also confirmed that every employee affected by this change will be offered a new position.

Renault has also outlined some of the projects it’s set to explore at the rebranded Viry-Châtillon site. There’s the expected line about EV research and development, with the facility set to work on the next generation of electric Alpines in the short term, and also focus on solid-state batteries, which could slash EV charging times and improve range.

Of more interest to us, though, is the announcement that “the Viry-Châtillon site will step up the development of the future Alpine supercar.” While Alpine’s been rumoured to be working on a halo car for some time, and plenty of concepts have hinted at it, this is the first official confirmation that it’s in the works.

What form it might take isn’t clear. The smart money would be on it being electric, but Alpine has also previously hinted that hydrogen combustion tech – as seen in its Alpenglow concept car – is being considered for production.

The plant will keep up its motorsport activities, too, with Alpine’s World Endurance Championship programme unaffected. It’ll also work with ‘partner brands’ in areas such as rally raid – a sport that fellow Renault subsidiary Dacia is about to launch a Prodrive-backed effort in – and Formula E, which Renault-affiliated Nissan competes in. It’ll also include an ‘F1 Monitoring Unit’, should Renault wish to pull a Honda and quickly do a 180 on its decision to exit the sport.