planetf1.com

Oh well, seems a shame really.

Although moving to a red, white and blue colour scheme could make for a great looking car.

We should just call then the Enstone team.

I think this is a sensible move. It also hints at more Alpine's which is a good thing.

As Alpine currently only have 1 model I can only assume this is to build brand awareness as they plan to use the name to develop further models.
Always think of the Vaxhaull VX220 as the case in point here. Good little car by all accounts but without sounding snooty, if I had one of those on my driveway I want to say I had a VAuxhall. Well, I'd have bought an Elise basically. Next up an Alpine SUV...

Makes sense seeing as it's been an uphill struggle for that team in recent seasons.

BMWSauber84 wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 06, 2020 11:58 am

Makes sense seeing as it's been an uphill struggle for that team in recent seasons.

That may explain it. If the team still can't get to the front Renault can pretend it's not theirs any more..

BMWSauber84 wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 06, 2020 11:58 am

Makes sense seeing as it's been an uphill struggle for that team in recent seasons.

I've just got this

tim3003 wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 06, 2020 8:24 pm

BMWSauber84 wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 06, 2020 11:58 am

Makes sense seeing as it's been an uphill struggle for that team in recent seasons.

That may explain it. If the team still can't get to the front Renault can pretend it's not theirs any more..

I think you missed the joke.

I think Renault missed a trick here. They should have named the team after their budget brand: Dacia Racing. Also: hire James May.

Frenk Biber wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 09, 2020 11:23 am

Dacia Racing. Also: hire James May.

Brilliant Dacia Racing with James May as lead performance engineer.

I heard it being pronounced Al-peen on last weekends coverage where I'd assumed Al-pine. Correct I guess but sounds weird.

They are returning to WEC/Le Mans in LMP1 as well

Makes sense to me. Like Abarth and Cupra where you can charge premium prices

The Alpine racing cars (rallye, endurance and single seaters), as well as the ones you could buy as your daily bone-shaker, have allways been branded Alpine-Renault or Renault-Alpine. It makes no sense, especially for the French, to call them just Alpine... Except for marketing purpose (as usual).

I'm not too familiar with European branding. Here in the US, I am very familiar with Renault, but much less so with Alpine.

As the saying goes, "Race on Sunday, sell on Monday." My 30-year product management career tells me that Renault relies on its Renault car sales for its profits, with specialist Alpine a distant second... with only one product, a FAR distant second.

In American NASCAR, Ford, Chevrolet and Toyota all have (at least one) premium car brand. Yet, they do not race cars branded Lincoln, Cadillac, or Lexus in NASCAR, because NASCAR fans do not buy any of these upmarket brands in any real numbers, while they buy tons of Fords, Chevrolets and Toyotas.

Mercedes-Benz is careful to brand its F1 team jointly as "Mercedes-Benz AMG" or "AMG Mercedes." This keeps the brand that consumers can dream about buying visible (Mercedes), associated with the specialist "AMG" that far fewer can ever afford.

Bottom line, I feel rebranding Renault as Alpine (alone) is a mistake. I suppose we will see what actually develops.

DFWdude wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 17, 2020 12:20 pm

I'm not too familiar with European branding. Here in the US, I am very familiar with Renault, but much less so with Alpine.

As the saying goes, "Race on Sunday, sell on Monday." My 30-year product management career tells me that Renault relies on its Renault car sales for its profits, with specialist Alpine a distant second... with only one product, a FAR distant second.

In American NASCAR, Ford, Chevrolet and Toyota all have (at least one) premium car brand. Yet, they do not race cars branded Lincoln, Cadillac, or Lexus in NASCAR, because NASCAR fans do not buy any of these upmarket brands in any real numbers, while they buy tons of Fords, Chevrolets and Toyotas.

Mercedes-Benz is careful to brand its F1 team jointly as "Mercedes-Benz AMG" or "AMG Mercedes." This keeps the brand that consumers can dream about buying visible (Mercedes), associated with the specialist "AMG" that far fewer can ever afford.

Bottom line, I feel rebranding Renault as Alpine (alone) is a mistake. I suppose we will see what actually develops.

I imagine it's because they want to build the Alpine brand as a luxury/sporty Renault. Get the name a higher profile as part of extending the range and building brand awareness.

DFWdude wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 17, 2020 12:20 pm

In American NASCAR, Ford, Chevrolet and Toyota all have (at least one) premium car brand. Yet, they do not race cars branded Lincoln, Cadillac, or Lexus in NASCAR, because NASCAR fans do not buy any of these upmarket brands in any real numbers, while they buy tons of Fords, Chevrolets and Toyotas.

Sorry but that's highly incorrect. Ever go to a Nascar event? The parking lot is LITTERED with these sub brand vehicles. Lincoln is the least popular by far but you'll still some but you son tons of Caddy's and Lexus vehicles EVERYWHERE they eye can look. The reason they don't race under those badges is that they want to promote the parent brand first and foremost and it doesn't make sense to compete with themselves. Nothing more.

The old adage of Win on Sunday Sell on Monday doesn't ring anywhere near as true today as it did 50 years ago because today consumers have a plethora of media outlets from which to take in advertisements and they are exposed to everything and anything unlike decades ago where you had only a select few TV and Radio stations on which these major brands would secure nearly all of the advertising slots to promote their brands, so people were force fed certain brands. The same thing happened with the cigarette and airline industries so the big brands became ginormous while brands with lesser exposure either shifted gears towards becoming a specialty brand and survived, or they simply disappeared from the face of the earth.

Today Joe Schmoe can advertise on any number of outlets and pay for brand exposure at nominal costs, of course depending on the platform.

However, I do agree that changing outright to Alpine is a mistake and instead they should have renamed the team Alpine-Renault F1 to get the name/brand out there to the masses so as to ease into the complete transition, if that's the ultimate end goal. Personally, being a car guy I can honestly say that until this announcement and then Renault's Instagram post with Alonso Promoting the brand, I had no idea that Alpine cars even existed, and if I'm this clueless about it, imagine the masses who don't follow cars. I'm willing to bet that this decision came from a board comprised of number crunchers rather than people who can exercise common sense, and they were encouraged by a wealth of YES men and women.

As well, I find that with Alpine's color being Blue and Renault's color being yellow, they could have paid homage to the Mild Seven liveries which are in my opinion the absolute most gorgeous and flawless liveries in the history of F1. It really is a missed opportunity, but that's the fan in me.

Yeah I thought for sure they'd go blue and yellow because of all those connections but they're going red,white and blue so oh well.

We'll still hear plenty of Renault talk because of the engine so I can see why if they were going to remain then they may as well push a sports car brand they want more out of at the same time. Plus if they struggle and Alonso's bringing extra limelight then they may feel Alpine taking the public flogging from fans, or Alonso, is preferable to Renault taking it I suppose.

Don't Renault own part of Lada? A Lada F1 team would get them more publicity than anything else in the world.

Asphalt_World wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 17, 2020 8:09 pm

Don't Renault own part of Lada? A Lada F1 team would get them more publicity than anything else in the world.

I think the puns would be unbearable. They’ve got a Lada problems etc.