Renault will launch at least one new coupe model off an all-new modular platform that is under development – and the Alpine name could return for the already confirmed Renaultsport version.
Speaking at today’s Frankfurt motor show Renault product manager Beatrice Foucher confirmed a new C/D platform would be used to underpin its next-generation Mégane and Laguna models.
“We need conventional cars as well as well as innovative cars,” said Foucher. “It’s very early stages, but we will have at least one coupe in the line-up [off the new C/D platform]. You can do lots of different cars off the platform. There will be a minimum of one coupe on the platform.”
Foucher confirmed the Laguna is due for replacement in 2013/14 and it is thought a standalone coupe model will replace the current Laguna coupe in order to differentiate it from a nameplate that has fallen out of favour with European buyers. She added that work on the new platform had begun in 2010 and a price had been fixed for all the models to be spun off it “early in the process”.
Foucher also said that Renaultsport is already involved in the development of the platform and stated that a Renaultsport version of this new coupé would be launched.
On the Alpine name returning, Foucher said: “We’re working on Alpine. It’s a possibility and we’re looking at what an Alpine would be in a Renaultsport line-up.”
Expanding on a possibility for a new badge to be introduced by Renault for niche models in the mould of Citroën’s DS range, Foucher said: “We’re thinking about a new sub-brand for coupés and crossovers.”
Foucher did however say that Renaultsport was unable to develop its own models from start to finish as it was not something the sporty sub-brand was currently “educated" in.
The current Mégane and Scenic models will also get a facelift within the next 12 months, Focuher confirmed, to bring their styling in line with that of the new Twingo, revealed at today’s Frankfurt show.
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