French-U.K. Venture to Relaunch Alpine Brand

Renault SA and the Britain's Caterham Group are forming a 50:50 joint venture to revive Renault's sporty Alpine brand.

The partners aim to begin producing cars in about three years at Renault's plant in Dieppe, France. Each company plans to market its own version of the venture's models.

Renault currently supplies engines to Caterham's Formula One racing team. The partners hope to apply Renault's F1 engine technology and Caterham's F1 chassis expertise to high-performance vehicles that can be priced below those of supercar rivals Ferrari and McLaren.

Renault acquired the Alpine brand in 1973 and sold cars under that badge until the mid-1990s. Media reports predict the venture's first model will be a $50,000-$64,000 version of the A110-50 two-seater concept Renault showed in May.