Iconic Renault Sport name has been dropped in switch to Alpine Cars

Renault is saying goodbye to the world-renowned Renault Sport branding that it has been using on its performance cars, replacing it with Alpine Cars.

The Renault Sport name has been synonymous with motorsport since its introduction in 1976, with the RS badging on road cars becoming recognised as a hallmark of a high quality driving experience.

However, the French firm has recently been switching its performance car efforts to the Alpine brand that it resurrected in 2017 with the A110 sports car. It also renamed its Formula 1 team from Renault to Alpine for the 2021 season.

Now, Renault Sport is being moved under the Alpine Cars umbrella, as the firm wants its employees’ expertise to be used on the upcoming electric Alpine range.

Laurent Rossi, Alpine CEO, said: “As part of the reorganisation of the Renault Group by brand, it is essential that the various entities that make up the Business Unit bear the Alpine name and embody the values ​​and ambitions of the brand.

“Alpine aims to be a premium sports brand at the forefront of innovation and technology. Alpine Cars with its expertise and experience in sports vehicles is a master card in achieving our goals.”

Robert Bonetto, product performance and engineering director at Alpine, added: “By becoming Alpine Cars, the teams are embarking on a new dynamic, rich in projects carried out with the support of the Alpine Racing teams and all of Renault Group’s businesses. This is an extremely exciting time for our engineers.”

Despite the name change, existing owners of Renault Sport cars will still be supported by the Alpine Cars team.