According to Les Echos, Renault is about to open up the capital of Alpine. And the Chinese Geely would be in the running to take a stake.
Alpine dreams of being a French Porsche. Luca de Meo, CEO of Renault since 2020, wants to give him the means to achieve his ambitions. He made it the group’s only sports label (exit Renault Sport) and imagined a complete range of at least five electric models, both sporty and high-end, from city cars to large SUVs. The objective is to pass the milestone of 100,000 annual sales by the end of the decade.
To achieve this goal, Renault needs funding. The brand is therefore looking for new partnerships and investors. According The echoes, the Losange could soon open the capital of Alpine, both for the Formula 1 team, but also for the brand itself. A source familiar with the matter told our colleagues that there are “people interested”.
In the lot, the Chinese Geely. It has already taken pieces of prestigious European brands, including climbing from 12 to 25% of the capital of Aston Martin. Already associated with Renault in South Korea, Geely should also take 30% of Horse, the future division of Renault dedicated to thermal and hybrid engines.
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Geely would be a useful ally for Renault, which intends to return to the Chinese market with Alpine. For the Chinese market, Alpine is concocting two new large prestige SUVs. The biggest could be derived from the Lotus Eletre, Lotus being led by… Geely! We recall, however, that Renault and Lotus have just ended their collaboration to design an electric coupe.
This opening up of capital is part of Luca de Meo’s overall strategy: to multiply partnerships, for all the subsidiaries. As summarized by an expert quoted by Les Echos: this helps to “control the value chain as much as possible by providing the minimum amount of money”. If Renault has rebuilt its financial health, with cash reserves that allow it to invest, the contribution of money by partners allows it to accelerate.
