Alpine and Lotus call off electric sports car collaboration

Alpine and Lotus have ended their collaboration on the development of an electric sports car architecture that was expected to spawn successors to the Alpine A110 and Lotus Elise. The two manufacturers signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in January 2021, agreeing to conduct a “comprehensive feasibility study” for the cars.

Next A110 was set to share elements with Elise successor In a statement last week, Alpine said: “Lotus and Alpine have been collaborating on a future EV sports car vision for more than two years, during which time a strong relationship between the two companies has developed. “As with any collaboration following an MoU, the outcome was not guaranteed. We have decided not to progress with the joint development of a sports car for Alpine.

“This is a mutual decision reached amicably, and we will continue to discuss other future opportunities.” The next-generation A110 is slated to be the third of three models to arrive from Alpine’s ‘dream garage’ of electric cars, following next year’s Renault 5-based A290 hot hatch and 2025’s GT X-Over crossover. The electric A110 was planned to share a chassis and technologies with the Lotus Type 135, which is expected to fill the now vacant role of the Elise.

This included having its battery cells stacked vertically behind the driver, which would allow the seats to be placed lower than if the car were to use a conventional skateboard-style EV platform and would bring the weight to the centre of the chassis, like in a mid-engined sports car.

It’s yet to be seen whether the end of the MoU for the sports car will affect Alpine’s deliberations over using a Lotus platform for a pair of electric SUVs due in 2027 and 2028. Lotus has said that it’s willing to work with partners that wish to use the platform of the new Eletre SUV – which is also set to spawn a Porsche Macan EV rival, codenamed Type 134.

Alpine has been considering using Eletre’s platform