Caterham will expand its joint venture with Renault

The partnership between Caterham and Renault will be more fruitful than initially planned. The president of the British manufacturer, Tony Fernandes, confirmed this week at the board meeting of the Société des Automobiles Alpine Caterham (SAAC), the joint venture between both brands created after Renault sold half of its stake in the Dieppe plant to Fernandes.

According to the executive, the plan is for Caterham to have its own city car and SUV by 2016. In his view, Fernandes believes that, although the sports car announced last November is very important, those other two products are necessary to succeed in the Asian market, because that is what it demands right now.

As for the SUV, Fernandes wants to make it something similar to Caterham’s Evoque, a sales machine. The other models would be based on Renault platforms. This would leave them almost finished for export to Asia, where their assembly would be completed and they would be sold as Caterhams. In addition, the executive suggested that Renault could later decide to market Alpine versions of these products.

However, for now the French brand still has to complete its feasibility study of this initiative together with Caterham. A spokesperson for Renault stated that the idea of selling Alpine models in Asia is not currently in its plans. Even so, Fernandes has high expectations for the city car and the SUV, with which he will seek to increase his market share quickly.

Via | Automotive News