► Renault teases Alpine revival
► New Celebration concept car
► Previewed briefly at Le Mans
The plan to revive Renault’s old sports car brand progressed to the next level today with the surprise debut of the Alpine Celebration concept car at the 2015 Le Mans 24 Hours.
It’s a proper look at how a future Alpine sports car could look, with echoes of the originals from the 1960s – from styling details to the retro-inspired colour scheme.
It’s the next step towards production since 2014’s Alpine Vision Gran Turismo virtual racer, designed for the gaming franchise’s 15th birthday.
When will the new Alpine be launched?
No word yet. Officially, the Celebration is the brand’s 60th anniversary present to itself, and will tour several events including Le Mans and the 2015 Goodwood Festival of Speed.
At Le Mans this weekend, there is an Alpine branded car on the grid: the Signatech-Alpine A450b LMP2 racer. The French brand is better known for its race cars than its road vehicles; it competed in the French endurance race from 1963-1969 with the M63, M64, M65, A210, A220 and even the A110.
But what Renault hasn’t done yet is confirm a launch date for Alpine road cars; it had planned to collaborate with British sports car specialist Caterham on the project, but that fell through last year.
It’s now going it alone. And we have to say on the evidence of the new Celebration concept, we’re quite excited about the prospect.