Renault to undergo Alpine F1 rebrand from 2021

Renault

Renault to undergo Alpine F1 rebrand from 2021

Move set to promote the sports car range

Ian Parkes

Saturday 5 September 2020 14:21

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Renault is to be renamed Alpine F1 from the 2021 Formula 1 season, GPFans understands.

The move comes as part of Renault's restructuring of its four brands - Renault, Alpine, Dacia and New Mobility - under new CEO Luca de Meo, who took charge in July, and is in attendance at Monza for this weekend's Italian Grand Prix.

Renault purchased the Alpine brand in 1973, although it only restarted producing road cars again in 2017 following a 22-year break, rolling out the two-seater sports coupé, the A110, that remains its only model at present.

In motorsport, Alpine has been involved with the Signatech outfit in LMP2.

On Thursday, as part of the Alpine overhaul, it was confirmed via a Renault Group statement that team principal Cyril Abiteboul would be placed in charge of the "creation, organisation and implementation" of the Alpine brand, in tandem with his current role.

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The upshot is an additional rebranding of the Formula 1 team, which would be the fourth in recent years following Sauber's switch to Alfa Romeo, Toro Rosso becoming AlphaTauri, while Racing Point will be renamed Aston Martin for next season.

Abiteboul, though, was coy on the topic of Alpine when quizzed during Friday's team principals' press conference, insisting that specific questions should be directed towards De Meo.

Abiteboul, however, made clear that great opportunities now lie ahead for Alpine.

"My two cents is that with the new Concorde Agreement we have finally the possibility to have a stable platform in Formula 1, a great marketing platform," said Abiteboul.

"The way we want to make use of that platform will be up to the CEO. We have a flexible platform, we have different brands."

Abiteboul added: "One thing that he has announced is that he has big expectations indeed for Alpine and what he has asked me to do as a mission, on top of what I am currently doing, running the team, is to provide a couple of suggestions in order to build an organisation around that brand.

"Right now that brand is one car, one model – A110 – but we want to do more and that needs an organisation - an engineering department, a product department, a sales and marketing and communication department. So that’s what I’d like to do.

"That’s what I’ve done for the team - building an infrastructure and a platform. That’s what I will be doing on top.

"But that has absolutely no implication on the marketing strategy. It will be up to him to decide what way he wants to market the different brands. I’m just running the team."

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