F1’s loss in your future gain.
Alpine’s announcement that it will stop building its own engines is a blow for the sport, but it’s good news for fans of electric sports cars. That’s because the French brand will turn its Viry-Chatillon engine base into the Hypertech Alpine engineering centre.
It means the same engineers and designers from the F1 engine program will be deployed for future road car projects, including the long-teased Alpine Supercar.
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Alpine CEO, Philippe Krief, said the company wanted to not only retain the employees expertise but also grow the knowledge and strength of the Alpine brand – as parent company Renault tries to establish it as a showroom rival to Ferrari, Aston Martin and Mercedes-AMG.
“Creating this Hypertech Alpine centre is key to Alpine’s development strategy and, more broadly, to the Group’s innovation strategy,” Krief explained. “It is a turning point in the history of the Viry-Châtillon site, which will ensure the continuity of a savoir-faire and the inclusion of its rare skills in the Group’s ambitious future while strengthening Alpine’s position as an ‘innovation garage’. Its racing DNA remains a cornerstone of the brand. It will continue to fuel an unprecedented industrial and automotive project, thanks particularly to Hypertech Alpine.”
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The soon-to-be-ex-F1 engineers at Hypertech Alpine will also be tasked with developing battery technology for future road cars. Specifically the company’s statement said it would put its short and medium-term efforts into battery development, but the long-term goal is to use their knowledge to developed “the chemistry of ultra-high energy density cells” for solid state batteries that can ultimately be used for the planned Supercar.
Alpine revealed the Alpenglow HY4 earlier in 2024, which uses a hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engine, but is planning an all-electric range of cars for its long-term future. This will include an electric-powered replacement for the A110 sports car.
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